Pacific Pests, Pathogens and Weeds - Online edition

Pacific Pests, Pathogens & Weeds

Rice gold-fringed borer (410)


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Summary

  • Restricted. South and Southeast Asia, Oceania. In Papua New Guinea.
  • Minor on rice; a pest of sugarcane. Also attacks sorghum, maize and wild grasses.
  • Larvae tunnel through internodes of stem to the growing point, killing it; stems pull out easily (‘deadhearts’). Panicles fail to emerge, or emerge with unfilled grain (‘whiteheads’).
  • Eggs (scale-like) laid in 2-5 rows, white then black. Larvae, white with five bluish-purple lines along body, dark heads. Adult forewings yellowish to brownish, with silver dots and gold fringe; hindwings light brown. Nocturnal.
  • Natural enemies: many egg and larval parasitoids and predators.
  • Biosecurity: introduction possible on produce contaminated with infested stems of host plants.
  • Cultural control: plough land well (to bury larvae/pupae of previous crop); plant at higher density than normal; rotate, e.g., legumes; synchronise plantings with neighbours; submerge eggs by raising water occasionally; weed; apply split applications of N; harvest at ground level to remove larvae; plough in stubble, unharvested plants and weeds; use resistant (short, high tillering, early maturing) varieties.
  • Chemical control: unlikely to be needed. Use abamectin. Avoid broad-spectrum insecticides to preserve natural enemies.

Common Name

Rice gold-fringed borer

Scientific Name

Chilo auricilius. Another species, Chilo suppressalis (the Asiatic stem borer, or striped stem borer), occurs in Australia, but not in the rest of Oceania. It is also similar to Chilo polychrysus, which occurs in India, Indonesia and Thailand. A moth of the Crambidae.


AUTHOR Grahame Jackson
Information (and Photo 4) from Rice Knowledge Bank. IRRI. (http://www.knowledgebank.irri.org/training/fact-sheets/pest-management/insects/item/stem-borer); and CABI (2017) Chilo auricilius (gold-fringed rice borer). Crop Protection Compendium. (https://www.cabi.org/cpc/datasheet/18759); and (including Photo 3) Anderson S, Tran-Nguyen L (2012) Gold-fringed Rice Borer (Chilo auricilius). (Source: N. Sallam DAFF Biosecurity.) PaDIL - (http://www.padil.gov.au); and from Chilo auricilius. Wikipedia. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilo_auricilius).

Produced with support from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research under project HORT/2016/185: Responding to emerging pest and disease threats to horticulture in the Pacific islands, implemented by the University of Queensland and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.

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