Worm: what is this insect? The main types of harm, methods of struggle

The study of the worm, its features of life and the fight against it began relatively recently. Although many people, primarily indoor florists, have already suffered from his "tricks." Sucking nutrient juices from plants, the insect makes it weak, which can lead to death.

Description

Worms are a whole group of families of insects from the suborder of the pectoralis, belonging to the order of the Damselfly. Concerning the latter, biologists often disagree: one does not consider the Damselfly as an independent, full-fledged detachment, referring it to half-winged. Therefore, the biological classification of worms is ambiguous.

The difference between females and males is pronounced. The male representatives have wings, and the rear ones are twisted into original tubes. Reliable females have a shield and a shell, because of which some of them move with great difficulty. Females tend to form large colonies located on different parts of the breadwinner plant. To pierce its surface, the worms have a long proboscis through which they suck out the juices.

Most members of this group are insect pests of plants, including indoor and agricultural ones. But some species benefit humans: for example, the crimson paint obtained from the Cochineal worm has been known for thousands of years as “carmine”.

Worms are most common in warm tropical countries. But you can meet them around the world. Today, the question of studying this pest remains open: some species remain almost unknown. Worms attract attention primarily with their malicious activity.

Common Worm

According to scientists, the world fauna is rich in more than 1600 species of worms. People got to know some of them most closely.

Mealybug

The mealybug has many subspecies. Moreover, they differ from each other in the way of reproduction: some are viviparous insects, while others make egg laying.

All mealybugs have a similar structure and common features, by which they are combined into a species. Females and males are very different from each other. A female is an insect with an oval body, on the surface of which a whitish coating, numerous paws and a whisker of great length are clearly visible. The length of the female can reach 5 mm. The larva differs in the smaller sizes.

The mealybug males look quite different: they are insects with wings resembling a small fly. They do not have an oral apparatus, so males do not eat plant foods and are completely harmless.

Root worm

The root worm is quite insidious: if traces of the presence of powdery are visible on the plants as a white coating, then this species affects the root system of the plants, and at the initial stage the symptoms of infection practically do not manifest themselves. An exception is a transplant of indoor flowers, in which you can notice a pest settled in a pot.

Female and rootworm larvae live in the soil, sucking juice from the roots. Single individuals creep out, to a height of up to 0.5 cm along the stem. Then you can see pest secretions that look like white fluff adhering to the plant. The female herself has a cylindrical body, painted white, often with a yellow tinge. She is practically motionless, her whole life passes in the diet of vegetable juices and laying eggs. Males are smaller in size than females. Outwardly, they look like whiteflies. The age of males is not long: as soon as insects reach adulthood and mate, they stop feeding and soon die.

The environment for the development and growth of larvae is the isolation of females. They can be seen at the edges of the flower pot in the free space between the clods of the earth. An inexperienced grower can take this as a sign of mold.

Cochineal Worm

Cochineal mealybug, or “cochineal” for short, is known primarily as an insect from which natural carmine is extracted - a red dye. He eats succulents juice, and prickly pears are especially to his taste. The length of the adult cochineal female reaches up to 4 mm. Thanks to a well-developed proboscis, it is easily attached to the donor plant, after which it moves only in exceptional cases. When the time comes, she participates in fertilization, followed by laying eggs. On this, the female’s life cycle ends.
In the XX century, with the development of the chemical industry, an artificial analogue of carmine appeared. This has led to the fact that the production of natural dye has become less relevant. But it is still indispensable in the whole list of industries: perfumery, food and medical (carmine is used for staining in histological studies).

Natural carmine is obtained by killing females of the cochineal worm when exposed to high temperature or by immersing them in acetic acid

Wormworm Life

Worms that live on the surface of plants are well masked. They prefer to settle on the underside of the sheet plate, so that it is more difficult to replace them with natural enemies. Their favorite location is leaf veins, from where they can easily suck out nutritious juice. Adult females all their short life, which lasts from emergence from the larva to laying eggs with subsequent death, practically do not move.

The main food for worms of all types is represented by proteins present in the composition of plant sap. Sugar, soluble in them, the body of the pest digests poorly. Therefore, insects leave behind sticky secretions. When there are too many of them, the sweet liquid drains from the leaves of the plants. It is noteworthy that the worm has a self-defense mechanism: the discharge “shoots” out of special glands, without falling onto the body of a small pest, therefore it does not glue its paws and antennae. Like the spider mite, the insect is a dangerous enemy of domestic plants.

Breeding

After fertilization, the female worm lays eggs, from which eggs will subsequently be born. Some species are viviparous. In exceptional cases, an unfertilized individual may also lay eggs.

Immediately after laying eggs, the female dies, making her body a shelter for future offspring. If the clutch did not die, then larvae emerge from it. They have an oval shape, paws with claws, slight pubescence and eyes located at the base of the mustache. The oral cavity is hidden in a special pocket on the abdomen, its structure includes 6 segments. The body of the larva itself is clearly divided into separate segments, and there is no inter-gender difference.

In the future, the development of larvae in different subfamilies differs from each other:

1. The larvae of Diaspinae and Lecaninae select a place on the plant to which they suck for food, and remain motionless. As they develop, a wax shield forms on their backs. Its building material is the secretion of glands.Immediately after the molting is completed, the skin becomes part of this shield, and a little transformation of the larva into a nymph occurs.
2. The situation is different with Coccinae larvae: shield formation does not occur. Instead, their body is covered with a wax coating or pubescence. This species is characterized by larval mobility.

In the emergence of adult larvae, sexual characteristics are already noticeable.

The harm brought by the worm

Worms are a parasite of an extensive list of plants, including ornamental and agricultural crops, and therefore cause damage to humans. With their proboscis, they bite into different parts of the flora, pulling juices out of them. First of all, branches and young shoots suffer: they begin to decrease in diameter and bend at the places of accumulation of insects and their larvae. If the infection is massive, then the plant dies.

Although adult females do not lead a mobile lifestyle and practically do not move, the infection of neighboring plants occurs very quickly. The wind carries larvae that are microscopic in size, so all plantings in the area are in danger.

The oral apparatus secretes enzymes with phytotoxic effects, so plants are additionally poisoned

How to deal with it?

First of all, a plant that has been infected with worms is mechanically cleaned of the pest. To do this, you should prepare a soap solution with warm water, which gently wipe all the aerial parts of the plant: leaves on both sides, stems, flowers and fruits. Heavily damaged shoots can be removed. When infected with a root worm, the root system should also be treated.

For rescue indoor plants The following measures can be taken:

1. Quarantine the flower so that others do not get infected. All other plants must be carefully examined - perhaps the worms are already interested in them.
2. A routine inspection once a month will be useful without pest damage. We must not forget to look at the state of the lower side of the sheet.
3. If a worm is found, then you need to take care not only of processing the plant, but also thoroughly wash the windowsill or the surrounding area, because larvae can lurk there.
4. It is necessary to fight not only females, but also males: they are caught by hanging adhesive tapes.

But the main way to combat worms is to use chemical or folk remedies.

Chemicals

Three groups of insecticidal drugs are effective against worms:

1. Intestinal. They penetrate the body of an insect through the oral apparatus. One such tool is Vermitek.
2. Contact. Enter through the outer cover of the pest. The treated plant can not be placed on the light, because this will cause yellowing of the foliage. For example, this is Fozalon.
3. Systemic, in which toxic substances enter plant juice. These are the sprays "Rogor" and "Phosphamide."

The popular Aktara and Actellik products are combined: intestinal and contact at the same time, which makes them more effective.

Folk remedies

Some pungent substances are harmful to worms. For example:

• the infusion of fragrant tobacco, which the plants are sprayed with three times, after waiting a week between treatments;
• garlic infusion: 5 cloves per 0.5 l. Withstand at least 4 hours;
• soap solution with alcohol (10 ml each), diluted in 1 liter of water.

Folk remedies will help if there are not a lot of worms on the plant.

Worms are pests that can and should be combated immediately after detection. Otherwise, they will harm the plants. Today, there are many tools that solve this problem.