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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1303 
Washington, D. C. T April, 1925 
THE PECAN NUT CASE-BEARER 1 
By John B. Gill, Associate Entomologist, Fruit Insect Investigations, Bureau of 
Entomology 
CONTENTS 
Page 
Introduction. _ 1 
History.- 1 
Distribution 2 
Food plants 2 
Character of in] ury 3 
Description 3 
Egg 3 
Larva 4 
Pupa 4 
Adult 4 
Page 
Seasonal history and habits 4 
Adult and egg stages 5 
Larva stage.- 8 
Pupa stage 8 
Number of generations 11 
Parasitic insects 11 
Control measures 11 
Literature cited 12 
INTRODUCTION 
For a number of years the Bureau of Entomology maintained a 
field laboratory in the southeastern portion of the pecan belt at 
Monticello, Fla., for the investigation of the biology and habits of 
pecan insects and to determine the most effective control measures 
for the more important species under orchard conditions. The results 
of the greater portion of these investigations have been published 
(4, 5), 2 but as a part of this work this bulletin brings together the 
results of a rather detailed study of the life history of the pecan nut 
case-bearer (Acrobasis hebescella Hulst), an insect which is now recog- 
nized as a most formidable enemy of the pecan because of its nut- 
feeding habits. 
HISTORY 
The pecan nut case-bearer was first described by Hulst (7) in 1890 
under the name of Acrobasis hebescella. In 1893 Ragonot (9) treated 
this species, and in 1901 it was listed and figured by Hampson (6), but 
the figure given is a poor reproduction of the moth. Dyar's "List of 
North American Lepidoptera" (1) contains this species, the distribu- 
tion being given as New Jersey, Texas, Illinois, and Wisconsin. In 
1902 E. P. Stiles (11) gave an account of injury in west-central Texas 
caused by what he called the pecan huskworm, but doubtless due to 
Acrobasis hebescella and a closely related species, A. caryivorella Rag. 
1 Acrobasis hebescella Hulst; order Lepidoptera, family Pyralidae. 
2 Reference is made by number (italic) to "Literature Cited," p. 12. 
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