Corrosive wood - a colorful butterfly with dangerous offspring

The corrosive woodcutter is a butterfly from the family of woodworms, in which there are about 600 species. The insect leads a nocturnal lifestyle and is not too demanding on the food base. It can live on 150 species of garden and forest crops. The appearance of a pest in the garden threatens the conservation of trees.

Description and photo of woody corrosive

The habitat of the arboretum is very extensive. The insect inhabits deciduous forests of the southern and middle parts of Europe, Ukraine, the Far East, the Caucasus, Asia, and the Mediterranean.

Appearance

In the photo below, corrosive woody is a sweet creature. This is a butterfly of noticeable black and white color with a wingspan of up to 50 mm. Males are inferior in size to females.

What does an adult insect look like:

• a white head with a contrasting black forehead;
• milky white breasts are covered with black patches;
• front wings of white shades with an ornament of angular blue-black spots;
• hind wings, with the exception of the anal region, translucent;
• the black abdomen is segmented and densely covered with light scales;
• in females the tendrils are filiform, dotted with a rare fluff to the middle, in males they are broad-ply from the base, and serrate toward the end;
• sexual dimorphism is pronounced: the female has a long telescopic ovipositor, the male has well-developed genitalia separated by a membrane bridge.

On a note! A characteristic feature that makes the woody corrosive among other butterflies is a white back with three parallel pairs of rounded dark spots located in parallel, as well as a narrow shape of the wings, which taper strongly to the outer edge.

Eggs are no different. The color is dairy, yellow, oblong oval, capsule length 1-1.2 mm.

Arboreal larvae are fleshy thick caterpillars of a white, cream, pinkish hue. They grow in length to 6 cm, the diameter of the body is 7 mm. On a slightly flattened head, 6 eyes are located on each side. The body is divided into segments, each of which is marked with 10-12 dark plaques covered with hairs. Due to the fact that the sole of the abdominal legs is equipped with tenacious hooks, the tracks are able to stay on any surface.
Pupae of brown color are cylindrical, length varies from 2.5 to 3 cm, between the eyes there is a horn-shaped process.

The nuances of the life of wood

Depending on climatic conditions, the years of arboreal butterflies can be observed from the first, second decades of June to the beginning of August. The peak of flight activity occurs in mid-July.

Interesting! Adult woodcocks that emerged from pupae do not need nutrition and exist due to the nutrients that they accumulated in the larval stage.

Female individuals are not particularly mobile and often do not leave the tree on which they appeared from the pupa. Males are more active and flutter in the crowns of trees in search of a female. After fertilization, the woody butterfly begins to lay eggs.She does not burden herself with a single laying and places the eggs in the crevices of the bark, dried wood at once for 50-200 pieces, feeling the places for laying by the ovipositor. Sometimes oviposition is simply on the ground. Fertility of the female is 2,000 eggs. Having completed their mission, adults die off.

Embryos develop from one to two weeks. Track hatching occurs simultaneously. The generation that was born sprawls on a tree and is attached with the help of a thin web.

Interesting! The slightest breath of wind tears the larvae from the branches and transfers them to another plant object. With strong windy weather, mass death of caterpillars is noted. Thus, natural factors influence the distribution and regulation of the population of corrosive woody populations.

Placed in the crown of a tree, a young larva bites into annual shoots, leaf stalks and makes longitudinal tunnels, which leads to the rapid withering of the affected plant. In these food sources, the larva continues to develop until the end of August. Having strengthened, she moves to the lower parts of the shoots or perennial branches, which now she has become "tough".

Food continues until the onset of cold weather and usually stops in late October, early November. After wintering, when the ambient temperature reaches 10-12 ° C, they resume feeding.

After 2 favorably experienced wintering, 7 molts become adults. For pupation, developed larvae crawl closer to the tops of the trees, form a cocoon from wood waste and stay in it for 2 to 3 months.

Harmfulness of woody corrosive

The corrosive wood affects many species of deciduous and fruit trees. Harm larvae that damage young shoots, make tunnels in the trunks. Infected branches dry out prematurely and break off, which in turn leads to reduced yields.

Hardwood loses its value after infection with corrosive wood. Numerous populations are capable of provoking the complete death of a tree.

It is possible to determine that plants have arboretum by the following signs:

• red dots at the base of the trunk - excrement of pests;
• drying tops of young shoots;
• on the branches you can find a passage that is covered by a cobweb or shell of a pupa; if you insert a wire into it, it will deepen.

How to deal with a pest

Cool damp weather leads to the development of pathogens, fungi on trees, which causes the death of a large number of caterpillars. However, gardeners do not have to rely on the mercy of nature, and they independently take measures to combat corrosive wood.

Action plan for the destruction of arrogant pest:

• In the summer period of butterflies, before flowering, trees are sprayed with organophosphorus insecticides from backpack sprayers. Solutions are prepared in accordance with the instructions. To do this, use “Karbofos”, dust DDT, dust hexachloran, “Chlorophos”, “Phosphamide”, “Fozalon”, “Tsidial” “Kinmiks”.
• In cases of mild infection and the identification of single individuals with insecticidal solutions, the moves of the woods are treated with the help of thin tips of sprayers or with a pear.
• You can treat the inputs of wood with tampons dipped in insecticide or gasoline. For several days they are left in the hole, and after the death of insects, the passages are covered with clay.
• A time-consuming but safe process is to remove the tracks from the tunnels of boles by calcined wire. At the end of the procedure, the course is closed with garden var.
• Damaged by wood, corrosive shoots, shoots, branches must be systematically cut and burned.

Corrosive wood is a dangerous pest that, when mass propagated, can destroy hectares of green space. However, if you regularly inspect the trees and if signs of wood are discovered urgently to start fighting them, the death of the trees can be avoided.