540 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Maple leaf stalk borer 



Epiiiotia clavpolcana Riley 



Small, yellowish caterpillars nearly 'j inc li Imig, in midsummer bore the leaf petioles 

 of maple ami hiu keve. 



The work of this insect in mapK' leaf stems was brought to the notice 

 of the late Ur Lintner in 1895, through si)eciniens received from Con- 

 cordsville Pa. The first indication of trouble was the ai^parently causeless 

 dropping of leax'es, and on examination a small caterpillar was found boring 

 within the jxH-tion of the leaf stalk remaining on the twigs. 



Description. This yellowish borer is about - ^ inch long with smooth, 

 minute granulations on the skin, not pointed as in the case of another borer. 

 Protect eras aesculana Riley, which works in a similar manner. 

 The adult is a small moth with a peculiar hopping tlight. The fore wings 

 are mottled with black and white and the hind ones are a nearly uniformly 

 dusky color, slightly spotted with black near the tip. 



Life history. According to Professor Claypole, the larvae occur in the 

 early part of May, and about the loth desert the leaf stems by the holes 

 through which they have entered and migrate to the fading leaves on which 

 growth is completed. Transformation to the pupa occurs within a rolled 

 silk-lined leaf the latter part of May, the moth appearing about 15 days 

 later. This species also works in the leaf stalks of the buckeye. The por- 

 tion traversed by it shrivels, blackens and is soon broken off by the weight 

 of the leaf. 



The larva of another moth, Proteoteras aesculana Riley, 

 also works in the leaf stalks of both buckeye and maple and extends its tun- 

 nels for a distance of about Yi inch to 2 inches into the slender terminal 

 twigs of both these trees, often causing a pseudogall. The maple leaf stalk 

 borer seldom or never bores along the leaf stem more than i-< inch, very 

 rarely (Miters the terminal twigs and lives in the rolled-up leaf after the first 

 two or three days. 



Remedial measures. This insect, where abundant, can probably be 



