Pacific Pests, Pathogens & Weeds - Mini Fact Sheet Edition

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Guava bud moth (381)

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Photo 1. Larva of the guava bud moth, Strepicrates ejectana, with orange head and dark grey upper body in unfurled leaf, exposed to show leaf damage.

Photo 2. Extensive damage to apex of shoot by the larva of the guava bud moth, Strepicrates ejectana.

Photo 3. Extensive damage to shoot tip by the larva of the guava bud moth, Strepicrates ejectana. The cocoon of the pupa is shown clearly.

Photo 4. Adult guava bud moth, Strepicrates ejectana.

Photo 5. Adult guava bud moth, Strepicrates ejectana.

Summary

• Restricted. In Oceania, Australia, Fiji, French Polynesia, New Zealand, Northern Mariana Islands, Samoa. Hosts are guavas, Malaya apple - members of Myrtle family.
• Damage: larvae roll and web shoots and kill them; also eat skin of the fruit; larvae are yellowish below and grey above; head yellowish-brown. Adult, greyish brown forewings with speckling, pale brown fringed hindwings. Serious in guava plantations.
• Natural enemies: none reported, but wasp parasitoids are likely.
• Cultural control: use finger and thumb to squash and kill larvae; plant flowering plants inside and around plantations to attract natural enemies.
• Chemical control: biorational i) botanicals (chillies, neem, derris, pyrethrum); ii) microbials e.g., spinosad, Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies kurstaki) against young caterpillars; iii) synthetic insecticides are registered on guava, e.g., malathion (USA), carbaryl, dimethoate (Australia), but are best avoided as they will destroy natural enemies. Spot-spray damaged shoots rather than 'blanket' spray.

Common Name

Guava bud moth. Swaine (1971)¹ refers to the moth as a 'webworm'.

Scientific Name

Strepsicrates ejectana. It was previously known as Strepsicrates holotephras. However, there is some doubt whether these two species are the same based on male genitalia, which are used by taxonomists to differentiate between species of Strepsicrates. A revision of the genus is needed. The moth was first described from Fiji. It is a moth of the Tortricidae.

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