Destructive Prune Worm: Appearance, Territory, Damage and Life Cycle

Latin Name: Acrobasis Tricolorella

Appearance: Acrobasis Tricolorella, often known as the destructive prune worm or tricolored Acrobasis moth, is a genus of snout moths. Augustus Radcliffe Grote described it in 1878, and it is found in southern Canada and the northern United States. When at repose, the adult is a bluish gray moth with a wedge shape. In the center of the forewings, it bears a transverse large white stripe flanked by a smaller reddish-brown stripe; a smaller pair of identical bands occurs at the posterior margin. The larva has a brown head and a dark grayish brown dorsal and reddish-brown ventral body that is covered with small spines.

Hosts Plants: They eat the host plant’s buds and fruits. The larval stage of the species survives the winter.

Territory: Canada and Northern US

Damage Insect Cause: It mostly attacks cherries, although it can also be found in plums and apples. Overwintering larvae feed on and eat fruit buds and developing floral parts before constructing nests in leaf terminals from where they continue to feed. As the season approaches, larvae assault the fruits and eat around the pits. Because it is uncommon, intervention is rarely required. Chemical controls can be used to suppress overwintered larvae in the spring between the green tip and the white bud, as well as emerging moths in late June.

Life History and Habits: Brown larvae that have partially developed overwinter in hibernacula (cocoons) on trees. In the spring, larvae restart eating and leave their nest at night to bring back leaf pieces. Pupation takes place in late spring, and adults deposit eggs on leaves in early June. The majority of this generation’s feeding happens in June and July. The second-generation adults emerge in August and deposit eggs for the larvae’s overwintering generation. Only a single generation may be created in cool places. In the spring, look for larvae in nests of webbed-together leaves. There are no products that have been specially registered for the management of these pests. Insecticides used to treat the fruit tree leafroller also control the leaf crumpler and the Mineola moth.