OBSERVATIONS ON TWO PAPAIPEMA BORERS (LEPIDOPTERA: NOCTUIDAE) AS LITTLE KNOWN PESTS OF INTENSIVELY CULTURED HARDWOOD TREES

Papaipema cataphracta (Grote) and P. nebris (Guenée) were found injuring the shoots of cottonwood, sycamore, and silver maple in nurseries and young plantations. Injury became noticeable from late May to early June as evidenced by wilting, drooping, and dying shoots and foliage. Infested shoots exhibited small round entrance holes from which white frass and excrement pellets were ejected. Infestations appeared when larvae moved from grass and weed hosts within plantings to the succulent shoots of the young trees. The larvae repeatedly burrowed into susceptible shoots, abandoned them, and searched for progressively larger-diameter shoots. Injury rates of current-year shoots in four plantings ranged from 4 to 12 percent.