Various aspects of the biology of the cossid moth, Cossus insularis was investigated in Tsukuba, Japan. The larva of this moth is a wood borer of willow tree, Salix sp. Salient biological information gernerated by these studies are as follows: 1. Larva stage is the stage for overwintering. Tunnels inside the willow twigs and trunks are the sites for overwintering. 2. There is continuous overlapping generations in these insects. Larvae can be found all the year around. 3. It takes about one to two years to complete one generation. On average, the egg, pupa and adult stages lasted 16, 20 and 5 days on respectively. The larva stage lasted 213 days for 1-year generation larva and 427 days for 2-year generation larva. 4. Parasitoids of this wood borer are scare, only one kind of ichneumon wasps was found as larva parasitoids. 5. Calling behavior of female moth and wing fanning behavior of male moth were observed in a laboratory wind tunnel and in the field. There is obvious evidence of a female sex pheromone.
Species 1: Lepidoptera Cossidae Cossus insularis (cossid moth)
Keywords: sex pheromone
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