SHADE TREE INSECTS 



33 



Maple Leaf Cutter 



Paraclemensia accrijoliclla Fitch 



This insect is present in northeastern United States and Canada. It attacks 

 the foHage of sugar maple and may also attack near-by beech trees. Severe de- 

 foliation occasionally takes place. 



Description. The moth has long, narrow, pointed wings with a spread of about 

 }/2 inch. The forewings are steel blue; the hind wings, smoky-brown with purplish 

 reflections. On the head there is a dense tuft of bright orange-yellow hairs. 



The mature caterpillar is almost \i inch long, slender, cylindrical, flattened, 

 with the body plainly segmented. The head, three succeeding bod>' segments, 

 and an interrupted broad stripe along the back are pale rusty-brown in color. 

 The rest of the body is a dull white. 



A Maple Leaf Injured by Maple Leaf Cutters. 



Courtesy, N. Y. State College of Agr. 



Life History. In the spring the moths deposit their eggs in the leaves. The 

 tiny caterpillar which appears in a few days constructs a small mine between the 

 two leaf surfaces. Then it cuts from a section of leaf a round case in which it 

 lives for the rest of its larval and pupal life. The caterpillar attaches this case to 

 a leaf and feeds on the tissues around the edge of the case, skeletonizing a ringlike 

 area. It then moves with its case to another spot and continues feeding. The 

 centers of these ringlike areas often fall out, leaving holes about 3^ inch in diam- 

 eter in the leaves. This feeding period ends in September when the cater- 

 pillars mature. They then descend to the ground, transform to pupae inside the 

 cases, and hibernate below the surface litter. In the spring they transform to 

 moths and emerge. 



