Evil nettle plant. Who hasn’t been burned by it in childhood so much that now there is no desire to try to pick it up. It seems even more strange if you meet a living organism eating it. And even like an eater! Sometimes you can find on nettle bushes a whole ball of black caterpillars, with small white dots, covered with belts of hard branched thorns. What kind of caterpillars are these? Why are there so many of them? And which of them hatches - read on.

Under the moving black mass, the green of the nettle is almost invisible. The trunk and leaves are covered with a tangle of constantly moving, chewing and crawling insects. Their bodies are covered with stiff hairs that encircle each body segment. Similar colonies of caterpillars are sometimes found on trees, but there they are still entwined with cobwebs. A repulsive sight.

And who would have thought that all these black caterpillars are just the first stage of the life of such a beautiful butterfly as daytime peacock eye (Inachis io).

Female peacock eye lays up to 100-300 eggs, usually in groups, on the underside of a nettle leaf. They hatch into intense black caterpillars with small white dots and belts of hard branched spines. They live on food plants in broods, sometimes up to 300 individuals, in a common nest of leaves braided with silk thread. Before pupation they spread out. Starting from the second instar, the caterpillars live separately.

Food plants for caterpillars: common hop; raspberries; willow, including goat willow; stinging nettle; less often hemp.

She crawled across the lawn, surrounded on all sides by willows. Apparently, she had already eaten and was preparing to pupate. So, meet the caterpillar hawkmoth(lat. Smerinthus ocellatus). She has a rather remarkable appearance, it is difficult to confuse her with some other species. This is a large caterpillar of light green color, with a blue “horn” on its tail. On her body you can see oblique light stripes and many small white specks arranged in a certain order. Red oval dots of spiracles are also visible on the sides. The head of this caterpillar is reminiscent of the design of supercars: beveled corners, aerodynamic smoothed shapes, converging at an acute angle at the top, the angle separating the front and side surfaces is highlighted with bright yellow stripe. After pupation, this caterpillar will become a large moth, which has a fairly realistic eye pattern on the lower wings to scare away birds, which is why this species got its name.

Hawk hawk (Smerinthus ocellatus) - a butterfly from the hawkmoth family ( Sphingidae). This is a brown-gray butterfly, in which only the short hind wings are brightly colored. On a pinkish-red background is the famous eye spot.

The caterpillar reaches a length of 60-80 mm. It has two types of color: bluish-green and apple-green with white oblique stripes on the sides and red spiracles. The front part of the caterpillar's body is narrowed. Head with two yellow stripes. A characteristic feature of the species is the bluish color of the caterpillar's horn. The caterpillar feeds on poplars and willows, less often on apple, linden, birch, alder, pear and bird cherry.

In addition to its characteristic color, the hawkmoth caterpillar has another characteristic feature- horn in the tail. Sometimes its color bizarrely changes to blue or purple. This appears to depend on the specific food item.

Despite the voraciousness of the caterpillars, hawk moths do not cause much damage to garden and forest plantings, due to their small numbers, and also because they feed mainly on the smallest young leaves.

After fattening and reaching the maximum size, about 80 millimeters, the larvae pupate. In this case, the caterpillars crawl into crevices and cracks on tree trunks, or, if the insect lives in meadows, into small burrows and cracks in the soil. If the generation of the insect is early, then this stage lasts about three weeks; if the season is late, the pupa goes into winter.

Almost immediately after the last modification - the transformation of a pupa into a butterfly - hawk moths begin to fly independently and go in search of a sexual partner. So that life cycle repeated again and again.

The length of the butterfly's front wing is 35-45 mm. Wingspan - 70-95 mm. The fore wings have an elongated apex and a notch on the lower part of the outer edge. The front wings are brown with a dark marble pattern. Pronotum with a wide longitudinal brown stripe. The hind wings are pinkish-red at the base. They have large ocellated spots - a black eye with a solid blue ring inside. The antennae are serrated.

On the hind wings there are large ocellated spots, which are usually hidden. A disturbed butterfly raises its front wings and displays terrifying eye-shaped spots. At the same time, the butterfly raises its abdomen, scaring away birds and other predators, while fluttering its upper wings - an example of repellent coloration and behavior. At the same time, the butterfly is not poisonous, so if it fails to scare the bird with its unexpectedly appearing eyes, it cannot avoid a sad fate. The butterfly does not feed.

The hawk moth overwinters in the pupal stage on the branches of trees and shrubs or under them in the foliage. With the warm rays of the sun in May, the pupation stage ends and the butterfly flight begins, which passes with changes until the end of July. In separate warm years the third generation is also being formed, which can develop from August to October. Adult insects of different generations of the season can exist at the same time.

The hawk moth lives almost throughout Europe, with the exception of the Far North. It is found in Asia Minor, Kazakhstan, and Western Siberia. As for the zonality of settlement, this butterfly prefers to settle in bright gardens and copses, on the edges of forests and in flooded meadows - where there is always a lot of light and foliage.

And this is what an adult hawkmoth butterfly looks like (photo from Wikipedia):

The insect class is one of the most diverse and numerous representatives of living beings inhabiting the globe. The most beautiful representatives of the family are butterflies, which differ from each other in the most diverse and intricate patterns located on their wings. Caterpillars are an integral natural target for the formation of butterflies. They also come in a variety of shapes and colors.

The birth of a butterfly is associated with a certain stage of insect development. After an adult has laid eggs in some secluded place, larvae emerge from them in the form of small worms. These worms are quite voracious creatures. They eat a lot of greens in order to move to another stage of development.

These larvae are called caterpillars. An insect can be a caterpillar for either several days or several years, depending on the species. Typically, each type of caterpillar eats a specific type of plant. They often become pests of any crops, fruit trees, berries, vegetables, fruits, etc. After a certain time, the caterpillar turns into a cocoon, which is called a pupa. Then an adult, called a butterfly, emerges from the cocoon.

Interesting to know! The larger the butterflies, the larger the caterpillars and vice versa.

All types of caterpillars may differ in size, development periods, colors, and habitats, but they all have the same body structure. The body structure of a caterpillar consists of:

• From a well-defined head of regular round shape, oral apparatus, organs of vision and horn-shaped antennae.
• Breasts.
• Abdominal section.
• Several pairs of limbs.

As a rule, a caterpillar has at least 5-6 pairs of eyes located nearby. The mouth has several small teeth with which they chew plants. There are small hairs or spine-like growths on the body. As a rule, the caterpillar moves quickly along leaves, branches and other surfaces.

Types of caterpillars with photos and names

Each type of butterfly has its own caterpillar. At the same time, the color of the caterpillar does not always match the color of the butterfly. In most cases, caterpillars are herbivores, although predatory species are also found. Depending on the food consumed, caterpillars are:

• Polyphages. These are caterpillars that indiscriminately eat any plant. This species includes moths such as the wine hawk moth, the ocellated hawk moth, the blind hawk moth, the kaya bear, moths, the peacock eye and others.
• Monophages represent caterpillars that feed on one specific type of plant. These are cabbage grass, apple moth, silkworm and others.
• Oligophages are caterpillars that prefer to feed on one type of plant belonging to one species of family or type. These are butterflies: swallowtail, pine cutworm, polyxena, etc.
• Xylophagous are a type of caterpillar that feeds on wood or bark. These include leaf rollers, woodworms and others.

Certain species of caterpillars inhabit subtropical regions, tropics, and northern regions. There are hundreds of species of such insects on the territory of each country. It is not by chance that caterpillars get their names. As a rule, they get their names depending on their main source of food. Some of the caterpillars were named so because they have a very interesting and intricate pattern on their wings.

Among all types of caterpillars, there are also valuable ones, such as the silkworm. Many caterpillars have a similar property. As the caterpillar moves, a thin thread remains behind. This thread serves as a kind of insurance in case an insect falls.

Interesting to know! From a butterfly's cocoon silkworm they obtain silk thread, after which they weave silk fabric from it, and then sew various products.

There are caterpillars up to 1 mm in size, as well as caterpillars more than 12 cm long. Among them there are quite beautiful specimens, completely inconspicuous, hairy, poisonous, and also those that can change their coloring during their development.

The following species are widespread in Russia:

• Cabbage white (cabbage).
• Peacock eye.
• Moth (land surveyor).
• Hawkmoth.
• Admiral.

This is the most common type of caterpillar inhabiting the European part of Russia. The caterpillar is different green and body length within 3-4 cm. There are black growths and hairs on the body of the caterpillar. It got its name because it appears mainly on cabbage. In addition to cabbage, he can enjoy such crops as:

• Radish.
• Turnip.
• Turnips.
• Horseradish, etc.

An insect can remain in the caterpillar stage from 2 to 5 weeks. Depending on the weather conditions. Despite such a short period of time, cabbage manages to cause serious damage to the crop.

This caterpillar is also called the land surveyor because of its original way movement. This is due to the underdevelopment of the front false legs. Thanks to its brown coloration, it manages to reliably camouflage itself among vegetation. In addition, thanks to the developed muscular system, the caterpillar can remain in an elongated, motionless state for a long time, depicting a broken twig or twig. This type of caterpillar feeds on tree needles, currant leaves, hazel, etc. The moth butterfly is distinguished by a thin, elongated body and wide, delicate wings. Butterflies fly mainly at night. They can be easily recognized by their slow and bumpy flight.

This caterpillar can be found throughout the forest-steppe zone of our continent. It feeds on the foliage of various bushes. These are fluffy caterpillars whose bodies are covered with brown or gray hairs. The end of the body is distinguished by a bright scarlet color, which served as the basis for this name.

Interesting to know! The bright red tail of the insect indicates that the caterpillar is poisonous. Upon contact with the human body, an allergic reaction may occur.

The summer of butterflies is celebrated in the month of May-June. The redtail is quite prolific, as one female can lay up to 1000 eggs per tree. With the arrival of autumn, all the caterpillars leave the tree and the pupation process begins.

Redtail is considered a pest of fruit trees such as apple, plum, rowan, pedunculate oak, hornbeam, elm, etc.

It is quite large in size. The caterpillar is distributed throughout almost the entire territory of Europe, Asia, North America, as well as in the north of the African continent. The caterpillar is quite beautiful, just like the butterfly itself. At the same time, at its stage of development the caterpillar changes its color. At first the caterpillar is almost black with bright red spines. Over time, it turns green with black stripes, mixed with brown spots. This caterpillar can feed on:

• Carrots.
• Parsley.
• Celery.
• Wormwood.
• Alder.

The hawkmoth caterpillar can be found both in middle lane Russia, as well as in Siberia and the Far East. Prefers to eat leaves of birch, willow, and poplar. The caterpillar has a green body color, which allows it to camouflage perfectly among the leaves. The body is painted with diagonal thin stripes, which resemble the veins of leaves. You can see a kind of horn on the tail of this caterpillar.

This is enough beautiful butterfly, which differs comparatively large sizes: its length reaches 10 cm, or even more. There are 2 types of these butterflies: the day peacock eye and the night peacock eye. In addition, there is also a large peacock eye butterfly, which has insignificant differences from the first two species. The butterfly caterpillar is also large and green in color. The peacock eye lives in the western part of Russia, the Caucasus and Crimea. Prefers the following fruit trees for food:

• Apple tree.
• Pear.
• Walnut.
• Plum.
• Cherry.

Interesting to know! During the development process, the peacock butterfly larva changes its color. Before pupation begins, it turns yellow, and the pupa itself is distinguished by a brown tint.

Moth butterfly caterpillars cause great harm to garden and vegetable crops, eating everything in their path. Due to their appearance, they are difficult to detect and due to their characteristics, their second name is land surveyors. The article discusses appearance caterpillars, what they eat and how to fight them.

Surveyor caterpillars or moths:

What does it look like?

Land surveyor caterpillars are thin and long, have a camouflage color and are very difficult to detect due to the fact that the color depends on the plant on which they live and feed.

Also, there are practically no villi on the body of these caterpillars, and when the moths freeze in one position, stretching either to the side or upward, they become practically indistinguishable from twigs. This way they camouflage themselves from birds. They are helped to take this position by their highly developed muscles and a pair of strong abdominal limbs.

Like all caterpillars, the body of these pests consists of segments. The peculiarity is that their abdominal limbs, located on the 7th and 9th segments (false legs), are not developed and the caterpillar moves, so as if measuring the surface with a span:

• Strengthens the thoracic limbs;
• Bends in a loop;
• Moves the false legs towards the pectoral legs;
• Then it clings with these thoracic limbs;
• Pulls the body into the forehand position and attaches itself again with the chest.

Another adaptation of the pest is that they are attached by a thread to the surface on which they crawl and if, for example, a caterpillar is blown away by a gust of wind, it rises back along this thread.

Varieties of caterpillar

There are more than 23,000 species of moths. The most common in Russia and the CIS countries are:

• Winter moth. A transparent caterpillar with a greenish tint, which has one dark longitudinal stripe along the back and three lighter lateral stripes. It has five growth stages and four molts. It pupates in June in the soil under a tree, and in August butterflies emerge from the pupa, which cannot fly and climb up the tree.
• Pine. It has a green color and five lateral white lines. Pupates late autumn in the litter under a tree.
• Gooseberry moth. Light caterpillar with yellow and black splashes.
• Ripped off. Has brown or yellow. A lateral yellow stripe runs down the body, and brown spots may be present.

Surveyor:

What plants are affected?

These moth butterfly caterpillars eat all the plants in a row. As for the above types, then they love to eat:

• Coniferous plantings. This is a favorite delicacy of the pine moth, which eats pine needles from July to October.
• Gooseberry, currant and other garden bushes. This is the food of the gooseberry moth.
• Berry and fruit trees are devoured, stripped, and moths.

Struggle

To combat these pests, the following measures are used:

1.Biological:

• The enemies of moths are parasitic insects and tahina flies. They eat moth caterpillars. Therefore, it is necessary to create conditions for attracting and breeding beneficial insects. They can be attracted by nectars from the seeds of the umbrella family (carrots, celery, dill, etc.);
• Treat plants in the spring before flowering with bacterial insecticides;
• Attracting sparrows and tits to the garden.

2.Agrotechnical:

• Digging the soil at a depth of 15 cm in August to destroy winter moth pupae;
• Loosening the surface layer of the earth from mid-September;
• Autumn collection and destruction of leaves.

3.Mechanical;

• In September, place trapping paper belts coated with special glue on the trunks of bushes and trees. This will help catch female butterflies and at the end of November it is necessary to remove the device and burn it;

Dropping the caterpillars in the morning onto the fabric placed under the plant and further burning the pest.

4.Chemical:

• Treatment with a solution of oleocuprite and DNOC in the spring before the snow completely melts;
• Preparation No. 30;
• Before flowering, spray with a solution of karbofos or arsenic.

Land surveyor caterpillars are quite harmful and difficult to detect, but when you notice that the plant is being eaten, you need to begin pest control measures.

Good day. There is a small garden on my property. I love it very much fresh apples and pears, so I keep a close eye on the trees.

And their recent inspection made me wary: I noticed red-brown deposits on the trunk in several places.

There was no doubt - this was the result of the activity of the odorous woodworm caterpillar. There was no time to hesitate, so I immediately took active steps to protect my garden. Now I will share with you details about this pest and ways to combat it.

Scented wood borer Cossus cossus L.

• Synonyms - Willow woodborer
• In English - Goat moth
• Class - Insects - Insecta
• Order - Lepidoptera (Butterflies) - Lepidoptera
• Family - Woodborers - Cossidae
• Biological group - Pests of stone fruit crops; Pests of fruit and pome crops; Pests of fruit crops; Forest pests
• Special marks - Common type

The odorous (willow) woodborer is a serious pest of gardens and green spaces. The pest is best known for the characteristic odor and brightly colored caterpillars.

The 10-centimeter woodworm caterpillars can be seen even in the city, on the ground or on the asphalt of sidewalks under trees as they move to new feeding sites.

The caterpillars are large, reddish-brown with a dark head and noticeable dark jaws, and have a strong odor of wood vinegar, noticeable from a distance. Since willow is preferred among trees, another name by which this pest is known is willow woodborer.

Poplar trees in urban green spaces are also severely damaged.
The butterflies themselves, inconspicuous, clumsy, with a thick abdomen and dark gray wings, are found on tree trunks in June.

Morphology

Imago. Butterflies have a wingspan of 75-100 mm. The front wings of the butterfly are dark gray or brownish with numerous black dots and streaks. The hind wings are gray-brown, with wavy lines of a darker color. The body is densely covered with hairs, the abdomen is dark with lighter transverse stripes, narrowing towards the end. The back of the chest is white, with a black collar.

Eggs. The eggs are elongated, light brown, with dark stripes, 1.5 mm.
The larvae are up to 10 cm long. The caterpillars, after emerging from the eggs, are fleshy red in color, and subsequently become yellowish-red with a brownish-red back, a shiny black head and dorsal scutes.

The adult caterpillar is very large, up to 12 mm thick and 70-80 mm long, and has strong black jaws. Secretes fluid using a special gland unpleasant odor. It can be felt at a distance of several meters. The length of the larvae can reach 100 mm.

Drilling flour pours out of the machined passages. The passages are made in the trunks, and juice mixed with the excrement of the pest is released from the damaged areas. The pupae are dark brown, about 30 mm long, enclosed in cocoons made of wood pieces.

Before the imago emerges, the pupa moves out of the cocoon head first from the ground or the exit hole of a burrow in the wood approximately half its length.

Development

Imago. Butterflies fly in the summer in June-July, laying eggs in the crevices of tree bark. They are active mainly in the evening and at night. During her life, the female lays up to 1000 eggs in small piles, filling them with a brown, quickly hardening liquid.

Eggs. Butterflies do not require additional nutrition to lay eggs. Egg development lasts 10-12 days.

Larvae. The hatching pink caterpillars gnaw into the bark and into the deeper layer (cambium) and overwinter there. The hatched caterpillars first live under the bark in groups of 20-30 and only after wintering they disperse.

After overwintering, they damage the wood, gnawing out large oval tunnels in it, each caterpillar has its own. They live under the bark for 2 years. They gnaw passages from bottom to top with oblique transverse passages and galleries. In the third year of life, they pupate in dry stumps, in passages made in tree trunks, or shallowly in the soil.

Doll. They pupate in May-June, having previously prepared the exit hole. The pupal phase lasts from 12 to 45 days. The full development cycle of the pest is 2 years. Butterflies emerge from pupae in the spring of the 3rd year.

Morphologically related species

According to morphology ( external structure) the imago is most closely related to the butterfly species Cossus modestus. They differ from the described species in size - the wingspan does not exceed 40 mm. In addition, in the male genitalia, the upper edge of the valva is without a lobe-shaped inversion, and the apex of the valva is pointed - wedge-shaped.

Geographical distribution

The range of the odorous woodborer includes Eastern and Western Europe, the Caucasus, Western Siberia, North Africa, Asia Minor and Western Asia.

Maliciousness

Caterpillars damage apple, plum, pear, and very often oak, alder, birch, bird cherry, poplar, willow and other tree species in parks, shelterbelts and forests.

Trees with soft wood, on the edges of forests, or solitary trees located in fields or meadows are most severely affected. Damaged trees become less resistant to various fungal and bacterial diseases.

The first year of life, the larvae live under the bark of a tree in entire broods, consisting of several tens or even hundreds of individuals in one tree, and gnaw out significant areas of the cambium, which causes the bark to dry out. You can notice the bark falling away from the trunk.

Struggle

Pesticides:

1. Chemical insecticides: Spraying during the growing season: Dimilin, SP
2. Biological insecticides: Spraying during the growing season: Lepidocide, P

Mechanical methods. Success in the fight against the pest comes from fighting young caterpillars, which still live in clusters under the bark. Once the caterpillars have spread and begun to damage deeper areas of the wood, it is more difficult to combat them.

If affected trees with broods of caterpillars are found, it is necessary to clear dead and loose bark with a garden knife, destroy the larvae, lubricate the wounds with clay and lime, garden varnish, lime with a solution of copper sulfate.

Attention!

It is advisable to destroy the trees that are most heavily affected by caterpillars. Since the butterfly lays eggs in the crevices of the bark at the base of the tree, for prevention, the trunks should be coated with a mixture of clay and lime, after first clearing it of old bark and moss.

Chemical methods. On valuable tree species, cotton balls soaked in insecticides are placed in the caterpillar passages to destroy them.

Biological methods. The caterpillars and pupae of the woodworm are destroyed by birds - cuckoos, pikas, tits, woodpeckers, rooks, magpies, orioles and others. Ichondritus from several families also infect caterpillars of the pest.

If the weather is humid, some pests die from diseases caused by fungi and bacteria. Attracting insectivorous birds to gardens can help significantly reduce the number of woodworms.

source: http://www.pesticidy.ru/Woodborer_odorous

What kind of caterpillar?

A large, inconspicuous butterfly, similar to a night moth and, like it, leading a nocturnal lifestyle, can become quite a major nuisance for the garden. And it’s not even entirely about her.

But the fact is that from the egg that is laid by this same butterfly with the picturesque name Woodworm, a large pink caterpillar hatches, and not just one, but a thousand, since the clutch of eggs is approximately 1000 pieces.

Wood borer ( Latin name Cossus ligniperda Fr.) is widely distributed throughout Russia. This caterpillar is quite harmful to some deciduous trees. In the first half of summer, the butterfly lays eggs in deciduous trees from the underside of the trunk.

A bunch of eggs is carefully filled with resinous juice, which tightly holds the clutch on the surface of the trunk and protects it. The caterpillars hatch soon enough and eat upper layer wood - sapwood, and sink under the bark, where they calmly spend their first winter.

Cause of sweet smell from wood

Interestingly, the woodworm caterpillar changes color as it matures. Now this caterpillar turns pink only on its abdomen, and its back turns brownish red. An adult caterpillar, covered with sparse hairs and reaching a length of 10 cm.

What is the reason for the sweet and unpleasant smell from pear, apple, poplar, willow, alder?... This is a pest - a wood borer. In addition to its color and unusually large size, the woodworm caterpillar has another distinctive feature. It gives off a strong smell of wood vinegar.

Moreover, the smell emanating not only from a living caterpillar, but also from a mummified one, is quite strong. It can even be used to determine that the tree is infected with woodworm.

On numerous gardening forums on the Internet, many users are interested in the cause of the smell from trees. Here is the answer - the pungent vinegar smell is emitted by the woodworm caterpillar. And, if there are a lot of caterpillars, then the smell from them can be heard even at a distance of several meters from the tree. However, it may be too late to save the tree.

The fact is that initially the butterfly lays its eggs, choosing sick, weakened trees. If single specimens survive, then the tree is in no danger. If they develop under the bark in large quantities, they can destroy the tree quite quickly.

And the reason for this is that the fact of infection is detected quite late. Well, in our country it is not customary to sniff trees in order to identify woodworms. But, if there are holes on the trunk, the exit of which is covered with drill flour and tree sap is released, then this is it.

Unfortunately, in the later stages of infection (when the leaves dry out and most of the crown flies off), it is already useless to fight the caterpillar. It is important to prevent infection of surrounding trees.

Control measures

The caterpillar hibernates under the bark twice, making long longitudinal passages in the wood from the bottom to the top of the trunk with transverse galleries, disrupting the flow of sap. At the beginning of the third summer, the caterpillars pupate, located in close proximity to the exit to the surface.

The pupal period lasts from two weeks to one and a half months, after which a full-fledged butterfly leaves the bosom of its native tree. Sometimes the woodworm caterpillar looks for another place to pupate.

The odorous woodborer is found almost throughout the entire territory of Europe, Central and Asia Minor, the Caucasus and Far East.

Independent measures to combat woodworm are not very broad. If you see characteristic holes on the trunk or understand that the cause of the vinegary smell from woody plants is damage to the woodworm caterpillar, then you can take the following measures to combat the caterpillars:

• It is especially important to spray trees from the second half of June to August with poisons (rimon, confidor Maxi, confidor, arriva, sherpa). You should remember about your own safety measures. It is better to entrust spraying with poisons to specialists.
• If it is possible to make a nozzle for the sprayer, then try to pour the poison directly into the holes.
• You can coat the trees with a mixture of mullein and clay before the butterfly flight period.
• Another method found in the literature is to insert pieces of cotton wool soaked in carbon disulfide into the holes.

source: http://dendromir.ru/biblioteka/drevotochec_pahuchiy/

Wood borer (common or willow)

Butterfly size is 35-45 mm. Wingspan - 68-96 mm. Fat butterfly with massive body, painted in gray or brown tones, with a small dark pattern. All four wings are dull, gray-brown, the abdomen has noticeable gray and black rings. When at rest, the butterfly folds its wings around the body and looks like a broken branch.

Distributed throughout Europe, as well as in North Africa and Asia. It lives almost everywhere where there are deciduous trees. The food plant is wood of various deciduous species, in which the caterpillar gnaws passages. The butterfly flies in June-July and is active at night.

During the day they rest on tree trunks, where they are almost invisible due to their color. Females lay eggs in bark cracks on the trunks of broad-leaved trees, especially willows and poplars.

Young caterpillars live under the bark and gnaw holes in the wood. The caterpillar may overwinter three or four times before pupating. The adult caterpillars leave the tree and pupate in a cocoon underground. Caterpillars have a pungent, characteristic odor.

source: http://www.danaida.ru/sem6/dreviv.htm

Caterpillars of the wood moth (Cossus cossus)

The odorous woodborer, or willow woodborer (Cossus cossus) is a nocturnal butterfly of the Woodborer family. The wingspan of the male is 65-70 millimeters, the female is 75-100 millimeters. The male is slightly smaller than the female.

The butterfly's fore wings are gray-brown to dark gray with a marbled pattern and unclear, blurry gray-white spots, as well as dark transverse wavy lines. The hind wings are dark brown with matte dark wavy lines.

Attention!

The chest is dark, brownish-gray on top, with a velvety black transverse stripe, whitish towards the belly. The abdomen is thick, dark gray, with dense pale gray hair-like scales along the posterior edge of each segment. The abdomen of the female has a retractable, clearly visible ovipositor.

The caterpillars of the wood moth are xylophagous and feed on wood. Caterpillars of the first instar are pink or cherry-red in color; the last instars are brown-red with a darker back and a black head.

At the end of their development they reach a length of 80-120 millimeters. The caterpillars overwinter in a chamber gnawed out of wood at the end of the passage inside the trunk, closed with a plug made of drill flour.

Caterpillars of the first instar stay in groups, gnawing under the bark and forming an extended common passage on the surface of the phloem. Later, young caterpillars damage the bast layer and cambium, where they make numerous interconnected passages filled with drill flour and excrement.

After the first winter, each caterpillar makes a separate move deep into the wood and to the root of the trunk, where it continues to develop. The passage of an adult caterpillar is a large, wide-oval hole with a diameter of 12-16 millimeters.

On old trees with thick bark in the lower part of the trunk, the caterpillars eat out individual long passages only after the first winter. On thinner trunks with smooth bark, the caterpillars penetrate the wood earlier, usually within a month of hatching.

Before pupation, usually in late summer - autumn, the caterpillar of the willow moth leaves the tree trunk, burrows into the soil near it, where it builds a dense silk cocoon, weaving soil particles into its walls. Pupation in early spring.

The pupal stage is from 2 to 6 weeks. In the northern regions of the European part of the country and in Siberia, the caterpillars do not leave the tree trunk in the fall, but gnaw out the chamber at the end of their stroke.

In it, a kind of cocoon is built from drill flour, in which they winter again. In spring, adult caterpillars continue to feed until June. They then leave the trunk and pupate in the soil.

Caterpillars damage the wood of fruit trees: pear, apple, plum, cherry, quince, apricot, Walnut, persimmon, European olive, wild olive, mulberry, sea buckthorn, as well as willow, poplar, aspen, alder, ash, birch, beech, oak, maple, elm and others.

Protective measures: whitewashing the trunks, covering wounds on the trees with garden varnish, coating the trunks with clay and casein glue with the addition of an insecticide, as well as cutting down weakened trees infested with caterpillars. In orchards, to preserve individual infested trees, an insecticide solution is injected into the caterpillar tracks on the trunks.

source: https://northern-liniya.rf/2014/07/19/caterpillars-odorous-woodworm/

Wood borer (Cossus Cossus L.) is widespread in the European part and the Caucasus.

Damages apple, pear, plum, oak, alder, birch, etc. The woodworm moth is quite large, up to 90 mm. in wingspan. The forewings are gray-brown, with dark dots and spots. The hind wings are gray-brown, with matte, dark wavy lines.

The abdomen is dark, with whitish-gray rings. The entire body is densely covered with hairs. The eggs are light brown, with dark stripes.

Young woodworm caterpillars are fragrant pinkish in color. Adults with brownish-red back. The head and chest shield are shiny black. Adult caterpillars reach a length of 80-100 mm. Woodworm caterpillars have an unpleasant, specific odor.

The pupa is brown, in an oblong cocoon of sawdust, fastened with cobwebs. Caterpillars of the first and second years of development overwinter in wood, in passages clogged with wormholes.

In the spring, boring into the wood of branches and trunks, they make new passages, mainly longitudinal, from bottom to top, with transverse and oblique side galleries. Overwinter twice. The caterpillars of the woodworm pupate in the spring or early summer of the third year in wood, near the entrance hole.

The pupal phase lasts from two weeks to one and a half months. Wood moth butterflies fly in June-July, in the evenings and at night. The eggs are laid in heaps in crevices in the bark, covering them with a brown sticky liquid that hardens in air.

The hatched caterpillars initially stay under the bark in groups of 20-30 caterpillars in each, setting up a common passage in which they overwinter. After the first winter, in the spring, the caterpillars spread out and each of them makes a separate passage in the wood. The passages have branches along their length.

One of the branches usually goes out and serves the caterpillar to throw out excrement. Having overwintered for the second time, the caterpillars of the woodworm pupate in the wood in the spring, located at the entrance hole. Less often, they crawl out of the wood in search of new places for pupation.

Trees infested with woodworm caterpillars are greatly weakened, become unstable to fungal and other diseases, and die off. Most often, the woodworm damages single-standing and edge trees of species with softer wood.

Measures to combat woodworm have been poorly developed. It is usually recommended to destroy heavily infested trees, clean the bark and coat the trees with a mixture of clay and mullein during the butterfly flight period.

There are indications in the literature about the possibility of poisoning caterpillars by introducing balls of cotton wool or tow soaked in carbon disulfide into the tunnels through holes in the bark, followed by sealing them.

source: http://boleznisada.ru/drevotochets-pakhuchii

Cossus cossus

• Type of pest: Pest of fruit crops, pest of shelterbelt forests
• Row: Lepidoptera - Lepidoptera
• Family: woodworms - Cossidae

Found everywhere. Damages oak, willow, poplar, aspen, birch, alder, and less commonly maple, walnut, and fruit trees.

The butterflies are large: females 85-95 mm, males 70-75 mm long; the fore wings are dark gray with a fuzzy gray-white pattern, numerous black strokes, the hind wings are light brown; the whole body is covered with hairs; antennae are comb-like. The egg is 1.5 mm in size, oval, light brown with oblong black stripes.

Caterpillar 85-105 mm long, younger ages- pink, the last instar - black-brown, black-yellow on the ventral side; the chairman is black-brown, shiny, the occipital shield is yellow-brown. The pupa is 30-35 mm, dark brown, in a cocoon of wood pieces held together by cobwebs.

Caterpillars overwinter twice: in the first year of life - under the bark, in family passages, clogged with bits of wood and dust, in the second year of life - in independent passages, bored into wood, mainly in the longitudinal direction.

After the second wintering, the caterpillars pupate in late May - early June in dense silky cocoons in tunnels, rotten stumps, and the surface layer of soil at the base of trunks. The development of the pupa lasts from 20 to 40 days. Butterflies emerge in June - July. They are active in the evening hours.

No additional power is required. After fertilization, the female lays 20-70 eggs in crevices in the bark, mainly on the lower part of the trunks, and covers the oviposition with sticky secretions that quickly harden in the air.

Attention!

Average fertility is 1000 eggs. The caterpillars, revived after 10-12 days, bite under the bark and all together gnaw through a common surface passage of irregular shape.

In the first year of development, caterpillars go through 4-5 centuries, the next year - 3-4, for a total of 8 centuries. The generation is two years old. More often, the pest inhabits weakened trees growing in unfavorable conditions.

Infested trees can be easily identified by drilling flour, excrement, and brown sap that flows from the holes and has a strong smell of wood vinegar. Damaged trees are stunted in growth, sharply reduce the yield of seeds and fruits, get sick and often dry out.

Caterpillars and pupae are destroyed by birds - cuckoo, jay, oriole, magpie, rook, woodpecker, sivoraksha, etc. The pest is infected by riders from the families: ichneumonids, chalcids, braconids, tachin flies.

In years with high humidity, a significant part of the pest dies from fungal and bacterial diseases. A closely related species that has much in common with the developmental characteristics and harmfulness of the odorous wood borer is the wood borer.

Protective measures. Attracting insectivorous birds to forest plantations. Removing and burning trees significantly infest pests and die. Injecting insecticide into crawler tracks using a thin tip attached instead of a sprayer to a backpack sprayer or rubber bulb.

source: http://www.udec.ru/vrediteli/drevotochec.php

Measures to combat fruit tree pests

Pest: The fragrant wood moth butterfly damages all fruit crops and many deciduous forest trees. Large butterfly up to 9 cm in wingspan appears in June-July.

Females lay eggs until mid-August. Each is capable of depositing up to 1000 pieces in cracks in the bark and branching shoots.

Caterpillars (up to 6 cm long) damage young shoots of trees by biting into them. Leaves on damaged shoots dry out and die.

For wintering, the caterpillars move to two or three year old tree branches, gnawing holes in them. Next season they do not yet become butterflies, moving to new, older branches for feeding and wintering. In the third season, the caterpillar gnaws an exit hole, pupates inside the branch and flies out.

Measures to combat the odorous wood borer: in case of minor damage to garden trees by the pest, it is necessary to inject the wood borer odorous solution of chlorophos (10 g per 1 liter of water) into their passages on the tree branches.

You can stuff cotton balls soaked in gasoline into the passages and then cover the entrance holes with clay. When opening the passages again, you can repeat the procedure. From the beginning of August until the leaves fall, it is necessary to inspect the tree crowns and remove young shoots damaged by the pest.

source: http://www.sadurad.ru/bolezny_drevotochets.htm

Wood borer - nocturnal moth

The odoriferous woodborer is a nocturnal butterfly. It is also called the willow woodborer.

Appearance

Males have a wingspan of about 70 millimeters, while females are larger - their wingspan is 75-100 millimeters.

The forewings of the woodworm can be gray or grey-brown with off-white spots and dark transverse lines, creating a marbled pattern.

The hind wings of the woodworm are fragrant dark brown with dark matte lines.

The chest is dark in the upper part, and towards the abdomen it becomes lighter and becomes almost white. The abdomen is thick, dark gray in color. It is covered with hair-like scales. Females have a retractable, clearly visible ovipositor.

Habitat

These butterflies live in Western Europe, China and the Mediterranean. They live in the forest-steppe and forest zones of the Caucasus, Siberia, the Far East, Transcaucasia and Central Asia.

The color of the woodworm is not similar to that of other butterflies - gray, pale and inconspicuous.

They are found in all zones of broadleaf and mixed forests, in gardens, parks and forest plantations. In the Caucasus they rise to the upper border of the forest, and in Tajikistan and Turkmenistan they live in oases.

Lifestyle

This is a sedentary species, leading a nocturnal lifestyle. Flight occurs at the end of May - beginning of August. On Black Sea coast, at warm weather flight may begin in mid-April. In Transcaucasia it runs from May to July, and in Tuva and Buryatia from June to August.

Willow woodborers fly low above the ground. The flight lasts about 2 weeks, mainly at night.

Reproduction

The females of these butterflies lay their eggs, as a rule, in the crevices of trees. There can be 700-1000 eggs in a clutch. She lays them in groups of 15-230 pieces. The eggs are oblong, about 1.2-1.7 millimeters long, light brown in color. They are coated with a sticky substance that hardens when exposed to air.

Willow borer caterpillars eat wood. Caterpillars of the first instar are cherry-red or pink in color, while caterpillars of subsequent instars are darker. At the end of development, the size of the caterpillars is 80-120 millimeters. They spend the winter in passages made in wood. They close the entrance to the chamber using drill flour.

Caterpillars of the first instar create a common course and stick together. The passages are filled with caterpillar excrement and drill flour. After wintering, each individual gnaws deep into a separate passage, where they develop.

An adult caterpillar makes passages with a peg diameter of 16 millimeters. On trees with thick bark, caterpillars make their burrows only after the first winter, but on trees with smooth, thin bark, they penetrate the wood earlier, most often a month after hatching.

At the end of summer, the caterpillar leaves the tree and burrows into the soil next to the tree. She then makes a silk cocoon by adding bits of soil to its walls. The caterpillar pupates in that cocoon.

Attention!

In the northern part of the range, the caterpillars do not emerge from the wood, but make a chamber at the end of their course. In this chamber, the caterpillar constructs a kind of cocoon from drill flour.

She spends another winter in it. In spring, adult caterpillars remain in the tree, and in June they emerge from the trunk and turn into pupae in the soil.

Damage caused by willow woodborers

The caterpillars of these butterflies cause harm fruit trees: apple trees, plums, pears, quinces, cherries, persimmons, apricots, sea buckthorn, mulberries, wild and European raspberries. Poplars, alders, birches, maples, oaks, ash trees and other trees also suffer from them.

Smelly woodborers - rare view, therefore it is listed in the Red Book.