Detecting pest insects across large areas means placing vast numbers of traps, with associated costs to set them up and check them regularly. Grid patterns have been the traditional choice, but a new study shows trap-placement patterns using parallel lines could be just as effective with much lower servicing requirements. Such large-scale trapping is used in detection of pests such as the spongy moth (Lymantria dispar), and the study of trap patterns used trapping data from spongy moth detection efforts in North Carolina and Ohio in 2021 to evaluate various trapping simulations. (Photo by Susan Ellis, Bugwood.org)