WITHIN-TREE DISTRIBUTION AND A FIXED-PRECISION-LEVEL SAMPLING PLAN FOR THE ORGANESTRIPED OAKWORM (LEPIDOPTERA, SATURNIIDAE)

Within-tree distribution and dispersion of orangestriped oakworm, Anis ota senatoria (J. E. Smith), was studied, and a sampling plan was deve loped. Significantly more A. senatoria eggs and early instars (first-s econd) were found in the low stratum of the canopy (1.7-3.6 m above gr ound) compared with middle (3.7-5.5 m) and high strata (5.6-7.6 m). Si gnificantly more third instars were found in low and middle strata com pared with the high stratum. Distribution of late instars (fourth-fift h) was not significantly different among strata. Dispersion indices de monstrated that Taylor's power law provided a better fit to A. senator ia count data compared with Iwao's patchiness regression. Taylor's pow er law indicated that aggregation decreased from early to late instars . A fixed-precision-level sampling plan was developed that determined the minimum number of samples within a tree necessary to estimate the number of eggs and early instars present in the low stratum.