''Chilo suppressalis'', the Asiatic rice borer or striped rice stemborer, is a

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

of the family

Crambidae The Crambidae are the grass moth family of lepidopterans. They are variable in appearance, the nominal subfamily Crambinae (grass moths) taking up closely folded postures on grass stems where they are inconspicuous, while other subfamilies includ ...

. It is a widespread species, known from

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, eastern Asia,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

to the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. It is a serious pest of rice. They are largely responsible for the great reduction in the rice growing in

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. It was probably introduced in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

by humans, where it is widely spread towards

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Description

The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is 18 mm in male and 18–20 mm in female. In the male, the head and thorax are brown and white. Abdomen pale. Forewings with somewhat acute apex which is ochreous, wholly suffused with brown except a patch in cell and a streak below medial nervure. Inner margin whitish. A sinuous rufous medial line runs with silvery spots on its inner side, also on discocellulars, and below vein 2. A rufous submarginal line, highly angled at vein 6 and with silvery line on its outer edge. A marginal series of black specks found. Cilia rufous. Hindwings whitish. In the female, it is much more orange-fulvous coloured. Forewings irrorated (sprinkled) with brown. Medial and submarginal lines almost obsolete. The silvery spots below the cell prominent and sometimes double. The postmedial area irrorated with silvery scales.

Ecology and life cycle

Eggs are scale like and translucent white to dark yellow. These naked clusters consist of nearly 60 overlapping rows. First-

instar An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'', "form", "likeness") is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each moult (''ecdysis''), until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or ass ...

larvae are greyish white with a black head. Head capsule gradually turns brown towards final stages. Full-grown larvae are yellow, with five, dim, longitudinal lines, and can grow to a length of about 25 mm. Apart from the major food plant,

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

, larvae also feed on wide array of plants such as '' Gigantochloa verticellata'', '' Echinochloa crusgalli cruspavonis'', '' Echinochloa stagnina'', ''

Eleusine indica ''Eleusine indica'', the Indian goosegrass, yard-grass, goosegrass, wiregrass, or crowfootgrass, is a species of grass in the family Poaceae. It is a small annual grass distributed throughout the warmer areas of the world to about 50 degrees lat ...

'', ''

Panicum ''Panicum'' (panicgrass) is a large genus of about 450 species of grasses native throughout the tropical regions of the world, with a few species extending into the northern temperate zone. They are often large, annual or perennial grasses, growi ...

'' sp., ''

Paspalum conjugatum ''Paspalum conjugatum'', commonly known as carabao grass or hilo grass, is a tropical to subtropical perennial grass. It is originally from the American tropics, but has been naturalized widely in tropical Southeast Asia and Pacific Islands. It h ...

'', ''

Amaranthus ''Amaranthus'' is a cosmopolitan genus of annual or short-lived perennial plants collectively known as amaranths. Some amaranth species are cultivated as leaf vegetables, pseudocereals, and ornamental plants. Catkin-like cymes of densely pac ...

'' sp., ''

Phragmites australis ''Phragmites australis'', known as the common reed, is a species of plant. It is a broadly distributed wetland grass that can grow up to tall. Description ''Phragmites australis'' commonly forms extensive stands (known as reed beds), which may ...

'', ''

Raphanus raphanistrum ''Raphanus raphanistrum'', also known as wild radish, white charlock or jointed charlock, is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae. One of its subspecies, ''Raphanus raphanistrum'' subsp. ''sativus'', includes a diverse variety of cultiv ...

'', '' Sclerostachya fusca'', ''

Sorghum ''Sorghum'' () is a genus of about 25 species of flowering plants in the grass family (Poaceae). Some of these species are grown as cereals for human consumption and some in pastures for animals. One species is grown for grain, while many othe ...

'' sp., ''

Typha latifolia ''Typha latifolia'' (broadleaf cattail, bulrush, common bulrush, common cattail, cat-o'-nine-tails, great reedmace, cooper's reed, cumbungi) is a perennial herbaceous plant in the genus '' Typha''. It is found as a native plant species in North a ...

'', ''

Xanthium strumarium ''Xanthium strumarium'' (rough cocklebur, clotbur, common cocklebur, large cocklebur, woolgarie bur) is a species of annual plants of the family Asteraceae. Some sources claim it originates in southern Europe and Asia, but has been extensively na ...

'', and ''

Zizania aquatica Wild rice, also called manoomin, Canada rice, Indian rice, or water oats, is any of four species of grasses that form the genus ''Zizania'', and the grain that can be harvested from them. The grain was historically gathered and eaten in both ...

''. Pupation takes place in a stem of the food plant. Pupae are reddish brown with two ribbed crest on the pronotal margins. Several spines are located in the cremaster on the last abdominal segment. There are two different populations of rice stem borer, one associated with rice and the other with Water Oats (

Zizania latifolia ''Zizania latifolia'', known as Manchurian wild rice (), is the only member of the wild rice genus ''Zizania'' native to Asia. It is used as a food plant. Both the stem and grain are edible. Gathered in the wild, Manchurian wild rice was an impor ...

). Biological differences between these populations, including the time at which mating occurs, which suggested that there maybe cryptic species. Genetic analyses have indicated, however, that there is gene flow between these host-associated populations

Attack

They bore the stems of their host plants, and therefore are classified as ''rice stem borers''. Almost all plant parts, from twigs, leaves, stems are attacked. Caterpillars can be largely internal feeders, whereas adults are external sap feeders. Heavily attacked plants can show varying symptoms from dead heart, white heads, dwarfing, stunting, rot, abnormal forms, and rosetting. Finally the whole plant will die. Dead hearts are the most obvious field symptoms.

Prevention

The pest should diagnosed early in the symptoms, unless it is not worthy to protect the cultivation. Many traditional and agricultural practices like flooding and harrowing or ploughing to turn in stubble and straw are effective to prevent pests in the next growing season. The use of early-maturing varieties and at harvest, planting synchronization and stem removal close to ground is managed. Biologically, they can easily removed by usage of

tachinid The Tachinidae are a large and variable family of true flies within the insect order Diptera, with more than 8,200 known species and many more to be discovered. Over 1,300 species have been described in North America alone. Insects in this family ...

'' Paratheresia claripalpis'', which is extensively practiced in

. The

ichneumonid The Ichneumonidae, also known as the ichneumon wasps, Darwin wasps, or ichneumonids, are a family (biology), family of parasitoid wasps of the insect order Hymenoptera. They are one of the most diverse groups within the Hymenoptera with roughly 2 ...

'' Eriborus sinicus'' is also used in Asia and Hawaii. Planting highly resistant varieties of rice and

transgenic plants Genetically modified plants have been engineered for scientific research, to create new colours in plants, deliver vaccines, and to create enhanced crops. Plant genomes can be engineered by physical methods or by use of ''Agrobacterium'' for the ...

is also known to reduce the attack of these pests.

Notes and references

External links

*
Australian InsectsRice striped stem borer, ''Chilo suppressalis'' (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), overwintering in super rice and its control using cultivation techniques''Chilo suppressalis'' (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in TaiwanChemical control of the striped stem borer, ''Chilo suppressalis'' (Walker) in riceAsiatic rice borer
{{Taxonbar, from=Q421516 Chiloini Moths of Japan Moths of Europe Insect pests of millets