As of now, it is late March, which is the time when the weather is warming up, and after the spring equinox, many overwintering insects will start to forage. Of course, with the warming weather, many flowers will also bloom, including fruit trees. Fruit tree flowering not only brings fragrance, but also attracts small insects like this. Let's talk about the harm of this 'butterfly’ today.

Recently, our farmers in Shandong Province have started to work in the pomegranate orchards. What are they doing? Not catching butterflies, but looking for leaf spots on the pomegranate trees. These leaf spots are home to the larvae of the pomegranate volute. With the warming weather, these larvae will also come out to forage. At this time, it’s a good opportunity for farmers to control pests. If there are many ‘butterflies’ in the pomegranate orchard, this pomegranate orchard may have a reduced yield this year.

What is this beautiful ‘butterfly’ all about?

The pomegranate volute butterfly belongs to the Lepidoptera order, belonging to the butterfly family Volute butterfly genus. It is also known as the apple pink butterfly here. Regarding the pomegranate volute butterfly, some people say it causes harm. In fact, the harm is not much, it mainly harms the fruit trees through its larvae. As the name suggests, the pomegranate volute butterfly mainly harms fruit trees, such as the fruit trees in Shandong Province. For example, pear trees, apple trees, peach trees, grape trees, and other flowering trees are all its targets. Therefore, when the fruit trees bloom in the spring, we must prevent this pest. Every year, due to the untimely control of this pest, the fruit gardens will suffer losses. The degree of harm caused by the larvae is relatively high.

The morphological characteristics and characteristics of harm of the pomegranate volute butterfly are as follows:

1. Morphological characteristics of the pomegranate volute butterfly:

The pomegranate volute butterfly has four morphological characteristics: adult ‘butterfly’, larvae, eggs, and pupae. The harm occurs when the larvae start to damage the fruit, and they particularly love apple and pomegranate trees. In some years when the apple and pomegranate tree insect infestation is severe, the yield reduction can exceed 30%. Let's take a look at the characteristics of the pests.

Adults: The body length of the adult ‘butterfly’ is about 20-25mm, and when flying, the body length is about 65-75mm. The body is black, with black antennae resembling wooden sticks. The wings are white and black, with a pattern similar to that of a cicada. The head and thorax as well as the feet are pale yellow. The forewings have black-gray triangular patterns on the outer nodes, and the powder on the forewings is partially thin, while the hindwings are mostly yellow-white. The pomegranate volute butterfly has a plump body, but only the female butterfly is fatter.

Larvae: The pomegranate volute butterfly larvae have five developmental stages. The newly hatched larvae are yellow and about 1-2mm long. The head and abdomen are also yellow. The larvae have yellow-haired hairs on their bodies, and the hairs are fewer in the early stages. As the larvae grow older, their bodies turn brown. The larvae are about 15-25mm long, with yellow circular spots and stripes on their bodies. The older the larvae are, the more mature they become. The old larvae are about 35-45mm long, with black heads, thoraxes, and air vents.

Pupae: The pupa length is about 25mm and the width is about 7mm. The pupae have two types of forms, one is black pupa and the other is orange-yellow pupa. The black pupa is not entirely black because the head, antennae, and back of the black pupa are black, and the rest is orange-yellow. However, the pupa has black spots, called black pupa. The yellow pupa has fewer black spots, and the rest of the body is orange-yellow. The orange-yellow pupa is smaller than the black pupa.

Eggs: The pomegranate volute butterfly eggs are yellow and oval, with an average height of 1-1.5mm and a width of about 0.5mm. When the adults lay eggs, the eggs are arranged in a sequence, forming a large egg mass. The eggshell has 10-12 floral patterns, and the top of the eggs has 7-8 white protrusions.

2. Lifestyle habits of the pomegranate volute butterfly:

The pomegranate volute butterfly has one generation per year, and its main harm comes from the larvae in the 3rd instar stage, which forage on the branches of the pomegranate tree within the tree crown. These larvae will make leaf rolls. The larvae will then form white cocoons within the rolls. The pomegranate volute butterfly is a yearly generation, so there is no difficulty in controlling it.

5632520562-340-502-35001573

3

3

2019

12

2

331-3