Hawthorn - caterpillar with excellent appetite

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Butterflies flying from flower to flower is a beautiful sight. Hawthorn butterflies are beautiful, but the harm from them is enormous. Their caterpillars destroy the buds, buds and leaves of fruit crops.

Content

What does hawthorn look like
Description of the pest
Reproduction
What harm do hawthorns do
Control measures
Conclusion

What does hawthorn look like

Description of the pest

The insect is quite common, so a short description of it will immediately refresh the memory of this butterfly.

Name: Hawthorn
Latin: Aporia crataegi
Class: Insects - Insecta
Squad: Lepidoptera - Lepidoptera
Family: Belynki - Pieridae

	Seats a habitat:	wherever there is food
	Countries and continents:	Europe, Asia, Russia, North Africa
	Features:	groups of caterpillars destroy large crops

Butterfly

Butterfly with white translucent wings, the span of which is 5-7 cm. Dark veins are clearly visible on them and the edges of the wings are outlined by a thin dark line. The abdomen and thorax are dark, but covered with light hairs.

The coloration of males is more pronounced than that of females, but without scales on the wings, only along their edge. On the lower part of the wings, a yellowish or orange tint may be noticeable, it remains from the pollen of flowers.

Eggs

Butterfly eggs are yellowish, elongated, barrel-shaped and they lay them on the upper part of the leaf, in groups of 30 to 150 pieces. Butterflies are very prolific and can lay between 200 and 500 eggs.

Hawthorn eggs.

Caterpillars and pupae

Caterpillars are brownish-gray with a dark head and a black stripe above, covered with light hairs. Along the back are two red or yellow stripes. Their length reaches 5 cm, and they have 8 pairs of legs.

The pupae are light yellow in color with black dots, up to 2,5 cm long. They are attached to branches and trunks with a white thread.

Reproduction

Butterflies emerge from the chrysalis in May-June, when they exit, they secrete a drop of red liquid. females lay eggs on the upper side of the leaves of fruit trees. After two weeks, hungry caterpillars appear from them.

They braid the leaves with threads and eat them. Caterpillars grow slowly, closer to the cold, they prepare nests for wintering from leaves twisted with threads. In the spring, they prepare new nests for themselves, larger ones. During the day, the caterpillars feed on the buds of trees, and in the evening they return to their nests to spend the night.

After the last molt, they gain weight, spread over plants and pupate. Butterflies fly out of the chrysalis, feed on nectar and drink water, mate.

The process of the appearance of a butterfly is a real masterpiece and magic, which can be observed.

What harm do hawthorns do

Caterpillars of Hawthorn eat buds, buds and leaves of fruit crops and many other green spaces. During the period of mass reproduction, they can completely bare trees, eating all the greenery.

Hawthorn.

Control measures

Hawthorn butterflies cause a lot of harm, various methods are used to deal with them.

Mechanical method

In winter, nests with caterpillars hanging on threads are collected from trees and immediately burned. These nests are cut with secateurs or crushed. Butterflies are also collected after sunset in places where they are collected for the night.

Biological method

Birds are attracted to protect the garden; in winter, tits eat caterpillars. Insect parasites also destroy hawthorn caterpillars. Trees are treated with biological pesticides.

Chemicals

For processing, modern tools with a wide spectrum of action are used.