UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 886 



Contribution from the Bureau of Entomology 

 L. O. HOWARD, Chief 



Washington, D. C. October 21, 1920 



SPOTTED APPLE-TREE BORER. 



By Fred E. Brooks, Entomologist, Deciduous- Fruit Insect Investigations. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Introduction 1 



History and distribution 2 



Food plants 3 



Nature of injury 3 



Life history 4 



Theegg 4 



The larva 5 



Life history— Continued. Page. 



The pupa 6 



The adult 6 



Time of emergence of beetles 7 



O viposition 7 



Length of life of beetles 8 



Natural enemies 8 



Methods of control 9 



INTRODUCTION. 



In connection with a study made by the Bureau of Entomology, 

 under the general direction of Dr. A. L. Quaintance, of several in- 

 sects whose larvae bore in the bark and wood of deciduous fruit trees, 

 attention has been directed to the cerambycid species Saperda cre- 

 ata Newman, known commonly as the spotted apple-tree borer. 

 This insect occurs locally throughout the apple-growing sections of 

 the central and eastern parts of the United States and is closely 

 allied in habitat, appearance, and behavior with the roundheaded 

 apple-tree borer (Saperda Candida Fab.) The appelation "spotted" 

 refers to the large white spots on the back of the adult (PL II, A-D.) 

 and was probably suggested in contradistinction to the longitu- 

 dinal dorsal stripes of its better known congener referred to above. 



The spotted apple-tree borer appears to be entirely absent from 

 many localities within its general range, while in other localities it 

 is abundant, occasionally replacing to a great extent the roundheaded 

 species. In the vicinity of Lansing, Mich., the w r riter found it out- 

 numbering Saperda Candida probably fifty to one. Prof. K. H 

 Pettit, State entomologist of Michigan, in a letter written in 1916, 

 states that about the Michigan Agricultural College they have taken 

 the beetles in so many places and in so many ways that their capture 

 has ceased to excite comment. In certain parts of Iowa and Wis- 

 consin the species has also been reported as common, 



186599°— 20 



