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Cite this article as:

Singh, S., Majumder, S., Samant, D., and  Sunani S.K. (2021) Bark eating caterpillar: A notorious pest of fruit orchards. Food and Scientific Reports. 2 (8) 31-32.

 

ABSTRACT

The bark-eating caterpillar (BEC) is an insect pest, causes serious damage in orchards.  This insect affects the fruit crops and forest trees. BEC is mostly found in the Asia Pacific region. Because of its devastating nature, it is considered as national significance. The life cycle of this pest is annual. Males are smaller than females. This pest is having intraspecific predation, which is a process of killing and consuming an individual of the same species. From the management point of view, clean orchards and avoiding overcrowding of trees will help to minimize the attack of this pest.

Keywords: Life cycle, Pest, Fruits, Caterpillar

The bark eating caterpillar (BEC) is a polyphagous insect pest of many host plants (Ali et al. 2007). This pest causes considerable damage to the fruit crops like guava, mango, gooseberry, citrus, orange, jamun, litchi, jackfruit, pomegranate, loquat, mulberry, moringa, etc. including forest trees, avenue trees, and ornamental plants (Garg and Tomar, 2008). BEC is most prevalent in the Asia Pacific region with wide distribution all over India. Due to its devastating nature, it is considered as national significance (AESA, 2014). In India, two common species i.e. Indarbela quadrinotata Walker and I. tetraonis Moore have been reported on many fruit trees (Haseeb 2005). Its incidence is very high in unmanaged orchards. The larva bores into the trunk or branches, usually at forks or angles, to a depth of 15–25 cm. The larvae shelter under silken galleries. Due its to nocturnal nature, the larvae emerge at night from the tunnel and eat the bark of the tree near of the hole.

 Taxonomic Hierarchy of bark eating caterpillar 

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Lepidoptera

Family: Cossidae

Genus: Indarbela

Species: quadrinotata, tetraonis

 

Life stages and characteristics of bark eating caterpillar 

The occurrence of BEC is regular on different host crops and found its infestation throughout the year. The life cycle of this pest is annual. Males are smaller than females. One interesting observation was noticed on this pest is cannibalism i.e. intraspecific predation which is a process of killing and consuming an individual of the same species.

Table 1: Life stages and characteristics of BEC

Stage	Duration (days)	Size (mm)	Characteristics
Egg	8-10	Length: 0.67-0.73 Width: 0.42-0.46	Female lays 15-25 eggs in clusters under loose bark of the trees; light brown spherical eggs became creamy white after some time.
Larvae	274-298	Length: 37-43 Width: 6 to 8	Smooth skinned with dark chitinized patches on the segments
Pupae	21 to 26	Length: 11-15 Width: 4-6	possesses rows of teeth or hooks on the abdominal segments through which it climbs out of the larval tunnel to release the mouth
Adult (Male)	4 to 6	Length: 11-13 Width: 20-24	Whitish grey, short, stout with brownish streaks on pale whitish forewings; Hind wings are pale
Adult (female)	4 to 6	Length: 12-14 Width: 25- 27	Brownish forewings having a row of dark rusty red spots; The abdomen has a tuft of hairs at its tip

Source: Satyanarayana and Arunakumara, 2016

Nature of damage by Caterpillar

The larva bores into the trunk or branches, usually at forks or angles, to a depth of 15–25 cm. The larvae shelter under silken galleries. Due its to nocturnal nature, the larvae emerge at night from the tunnel and eat the bark of the tree near of the hole. Although young trees are more prone to BEC infestation, neglected orchards are not spared from its devastating crucial damage. If enough bark is eaten away, even large trees are disturbed by the interrupted sap flow; they may fail to flush and drying of the branches occurs. Large dark-brown webby masses, comprising chewed wooden particles and faecal matter, are conspicuously seen hanging loosely on the bark of the affected tree. Generally, a single caterpillar is found inside a tunnel but heavily infested trees may contain 15-30 larvae. Accurate damage losses in terms of yield have not been reported because of the peculiar feeding habits of the pest, being confined to the stem only on different varieties of host plants. However, stem damage by the pest results in an interruption in the translocation of cell sap leading to inhibition of growth and adverse effects on the fruiting capacity while in severe cases of infestation leads to complete death of young trees.

 Symptoms caused by  bark eating caterpillar 

•    Visible irregular tunnels coated with thick, ribbon-like, silken webs filled with excreta and chewed wood particles on the shoots, branches, stem, and trunk 
•    Shoots and branches show shelter holes 
•    Young trees may die due to the attack

 

Management of bark eating caterpillar 

Keeping orchards clean and avoiding overcrowding of trees will help to minimize the attack of this pest. Clear the affected branches of the frass and faeces. Generally, badly pruned trees are most preferred by this pest, and make careful pruning to avoid pest attack. Remove and destroy dead and severely affected branches of the tree. Probe the galleries and insert an iron spike into the borehole to kill the larva. Collect and destroy the egg clusters in May–June on the bark, and spraying of 0.05% dichlorvos on the trunks after removing the galleries can also be done. In November–January, in case of severe attack, remove the entire web or galleries, and insert cotton swabs soaked with 10 ml of 0.05% dichlorvos 76 EC into the tunnel, and seal it with mud; this kills the larvae effectively. 

 References

 

Ali, M,S,, Azam, F,, Chaturvedi, O.P. (2007). Occurrence, host spectrum and host specificity of bark eating caterpillar, Indarbela quadrinotata Wlk. in relation to trees of Bihar. Journal of Tropical Forestry 23(3/4):59–64.

Garg, V.K., Tomar, D.S. (2008). Preferential feeding of bark eating Caterpillar, Indarbela quadrinotata (Walker) on horticultural and forest plant species. Indian Forester 134(4):579–580

AESA IPM PACKAGE, AESA based IPM – Amla. (2014). DAC. Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India.

 [http://farmer.gov.in/imagedefault/ipm/IPM package for Amla]

Haseeb, M. (2005). Current status of insect pest problems in guava. In: International Guava symposium 735, pp 453–467

Satyanarayana, C., Arunakumara, K.T. (2016). Biology and management of guava bark eating caterpillar (Indarbela tetraonis Moore). Agricultural Science Digest, 36(3).

 

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