''Sesia tibialis'', the American hornet moth, poplar clearwing borer or cottonwood crown borer, is a
moth of the family
Sesiidae. It is known from
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
, including
British Columbia,
Colorado,
Utah,
Michigan,
Montana,
Washington,
California and
Arizona.
Adults resemble hornets with black and yellow-striped bodies and transparent wings.
The larvae feed on common lilac, green ash, poplar, aspen, cottonwood and trembling aspen. It is a pest of poplar and willow and commonly feeds in
hybrid
Hybrid may refer to:
Science
* Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding
** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species
** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...
poplar stool bed
Basal shoots, root sprouts, adventitious shoots, and suckers are words for various kinds of shoots that grow from adventitious buds on the base of a tree or shrub, or from adventitious buds on its roots. Shoots that grow from buds on the bas ...
s. They live in tunnels in the cambial area (bark-wood interface) of both the lower stem and roots of their host plant. The species requires two years to complete its life cycle, overwintering as a larva twice. Pupation occurs in silk-lined, wood chip pupal chambers in the soil if larvae have fed in host tree roots. They pupate just below the bark surface if they have fed in the stem. Depending on their location, pupae move to the surface of either soil or bark before emerging as adult moths in late June or early July.
Insects and diseases of Canada's forests
References
Sesiidae
Moths described in 1839
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