Tupelo borer
Aegomorphus morrisi (Uhler)
From: Solomon, J.D. 1995. Guide to insect borers of North
American broadleaf trees and shrubs. Argic. Handbk. 706. Washington, DC:
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 735 p.
Hosts. Tupelo. Has been found in water tupelo and blackgum
(Craighead 1923, Lugger 1884). Yellow-poplar has been mentioned as a host,
but this report seems questionable (Beutenmuller 1896)
Range. Reported only from a few widely scattered areas in
eastern North America including South Carolina, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and
Canada (Blatchley 1910, Craighead 1923). More recently, it has been
observed in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, loessal bluffs of Mississippi, and
river bottomlands of Florida.
Description
Adult. Rather robust, somewhat flattened longhorn beetle of
medium size, measuring 20 to 26 mm long (Blatchley 1910). Antennae about
body length to slightly longer. Thorax tuberculate above and on
sides. Femora swollen apically. Each elytron with indistinct
M-shaped black mark behind middle.
Larva. Robust and white with short dark mandibles (Craighead
1923). Ampullar tubercles very large, spiracles large and strongly
chitinized, and body sparsely covered with coarse to velvety pubescence.
Biology. Adults emerge in June (Craighead 1923). Females
deposit eggs on the lower trunks of small living host trees, especially
saplings. Larval habits are somewhat similar to those of the Goes
borers. The larvae feed in the phloem and cambium, hollowing out cavelike
cavities, then construct galleries into the sapwood and heartwood.
Galleries extend 26 to 64 mm inward, 8 to 13 cm upward, then turn back to the
bark surface. The new adults emerge through round exit holes. Thus,
each insect leaves two holes--a large entrance and a small exit. The life
cycle likely requires 2 years or longer.
Injury and Damage. Small to large areas of loosened bark,
sometimes with coarse frass protruding from bark openings provide good evidence
of infestation. Removing the bark reveals a large irregular cavity 5 to 8
cm in diameter packed with fibrous frass. Splitting an infested stem
reveals the entrance and cavity under the bark, gallery, and exit. Bark
scars resulting from previously healed attacks consist of rather large patchy
scars with small round scars directly above. Attacks have been found on
saplings from about 5 to 12 cm in diameter and at heights from slightly above
ground to about 1.8 m. Populations are small and widely scattered; thus,
overall damage has been minor.
Control. Woodpeckers sometimes capture the larvae. Direct
control with chemicals applied as a spray or injected into galleries should be
effective on high-value trees.
Damage bark indicators at attack sites on sapling. James Solomon,
USDA Forest Service. |
Adult(s). James Solomon,
USDA Forest Service. |
Damage feeding (bark scar). James Solomon,
USDA Forest Service. |
[ Contents ]
[ Previous ]
[ Next ]
[ Home ]
|
