English

A cabbage looper

Noun

cabbage looper ‎(plural cabbage loopers)

1. Trichoplusia ni, a widespread noctuid moth which in its caterpillar stage is an important crop pest.
   • 1948 January, Charles Adolph Weigel, Lynn Garfield Baumhofer, Handbook on Insect Enemies of Flowers and Shrubs, U.S. Department of Agriculture Miscellaneous Publication No. 626, page 3,

     The cabbage looper (Trichoplusia ni (Hbn.)) is an example of a caterpillar that feeds more or less exposed on the plant, in contrast to cutworms and borers, which are usually not seen.

   • 2001, John L. Capinera, Handbook of Vegetable Pests, page 391,

     Cabbage looper replaced imported cabbageworm, Pieris rapae (Linnaeus), as the dominant cabbage caterpillar in the 1950s, apparently due to greater susceptibility of the latter to most insecticides. In recent years, diamondback moth has emerged as a more important pest than cabbage looper; nevertheless, T. ni can be a serious problem. […] Cabbage loopers are leaf feeders, and in the first three instars they confine their feeding to the lower leaf surface, leaving the upper surface intact.

   • 2012, Steve H. Dreistadt, Integrated Pest Management for Citrus, 3rd Edition, page 149,

     Cabbage looper (family Noctuidae, subfamily Plusiinae) is a rare pest in citrus. […] A nuclear polyhedrosis virus (NPV) and about two dozen parasite species kill cabbage loopers.