Chamaesphecia crassicornus
(clear wing moth)


Host Impact    Larva, Adult and Root Damage    Adult     
Photo by: Bob Richard, USDA-APHIS-PPQ.
Scientific name: Chamaesphecia crassicornus
Common Name: clear wing moth
(1)
Class, order, and family: Lepidoptera : Sesiidae
Origin: Eurasia
(1)
Life Cycle: Their whole life cycle lasts about 1 year.  Then the adult moth lays their eggs next to the root.  Then the larva bores in to the root of the plant and starts to develop and devours the plants insides and kills the plant. Then the adult comes out and repeats the cycle all over.  (1)
Over wintering State:  
In the root of the plant. (1)
Egg stage:
.100-200 eggs are laid by each female.  Newly hatched larva bore into a spurge stem and tunnel down the stem into the roots.  (1)
Larva stage:
The larva stage is spent most of its time in the root of the Leafy spurge (Euphoria esula).  (1)
Pupa stage: They live in the stem of the plant and when they become an adult they crawl to the "exit hole" that the larva has eaten away.  (1)
Adult stage: The adult moth is 10-14 mm in length, and usually is dark brown with yellow markings. The wings are mostly clear, with dark margins and brown and yellow markings. Antennae are about half as long as the body and dark.  The legs are yellow with brown markings. The picture above is a picture of the (Chamaesphecia crassicornus) clear wing moth.  (1)
Type of damage to host: The larva feeds on most of the root but the young larva tend to feeds on the crown of the plant.  Through the stems of the plant they are eaten and filled with larva excrement.  (5)
Host Impact:
Root Damage (1)
Favorable/Unfavorable release habitats:
 
How to collect, transport, and release:
 
Collection .  Hand collecting and sweep netting of adults are the best collection method.  (5)
Transportation
Their is no way to transport this insect  correctly. (1)
Releasing
Put the insect by the root of the ground. (1)
How to redistribute once established:

How and where to purchase:
  This bug is too new to purchase.  (1)
Reasons that They are here: They are here because Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Wyoming has lost about $120 million dollars worth of land that was destroyed by leafy spurge.  (1)

Literature Cited:
(1)  http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/ent/biocontrol/weedfeeders/chamaesphecia.html
by Rich Hansen, USDA-APHIS-PPQ, Forestry Sciences Lab, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717-0278.

(2) 
http://www.forestryimages.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=0023052  Forestry Images:
The Source for Forest Health, Natural Resources and Silviculture Images  A joint project between
Bugwood Network and the USDA Forest Service.  G. Keith Douce, David J. Moorhead, Charles T. Bargeron, Project Coordinators, The University of Georgia.  Last updated on Wednesday, February 11, 2004 at 03:05 PM.

(3) 
http://www.wes.army.mil/el/pmis/biocontrol/html/chamaes0.html The US Army Corps of Engineers Engineer Research and Development Center Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, MS  Page last updated: December 2003.

(4)  http://www.hysham.com/rosebudweed/hungaria.htm
Vince Thomas Supervisor  Amy Adler
Admin. Assistant 
This page was last updated on 01/26/03.

(5)  http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7477.html  Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California.  This page was last updated on April 15, 2004.


Links:
 
(1) http://www.symposium.ars.usda.gov/tours/biocontrol.html

(2) http://www.team.ars.usda.gov/symposium/1994/nineteen.html  


(3) http://members.efn.org/~ipmpa/Noxlspur.html

(4)http://www.nic.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/insecta/lepido...

(5) http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/IPM/natparks/spurge.html

(6) http://www.team.ars.usda.gov/news/feb97.pdf

(7) http://www.bspp.org.uk/ICPP98/2.10/5.html 

(8) http://members.eunet.at/f.puehringer/literat1.htm 

Web page was made by Jon Jenkins, 4/26/04.
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