"Phassus" Borer

All in BLUE is the note from Dr.A.BABU, Head, Division of Entomology, UPASI Tea Research Foundation Tamilnadu, India

The "Phassus” Borer - Hepialid Borer,”Sahyadrassus malabaricus (Moore) Hepialidae :
Lepidoptera), a large caterpillar, endemic to south India. It is often referred by its previous generic name "Phassus" which attacks several forest trees including the teak and eucalyptus. More than 50 species of plants are recorded as host for this pest.Adults have grey forewings with faint mottlings Male produce sharp, pungent, mustard like smell by the scent glands Young caterpillars bore into the stems, excavate long cylindrical tunnels, eating of bark and sapwood resulted in cankers. Top end of the tunnel opens into cankers. Feeding takes place at night . It can move forward and backward with equal ease Attacked bushes can be easily located by the frassy mat, formed of powdered wood and silk, hanging near the holes.
Eggs are broadcast by the female in flight. A few succeed in tunneling the tea stems. Caterpillars make very long galleries that can go down to the roots Mature larva is pale yellow, pencil thick and 6-10 cm long. (We have found some mature larva that are pinkish/red too). Larval duration is 10 months. Pupates in the lower part of the tunnel. Pupal period lasts for 3-5 weeks. “Control measures: The tunneling was found deep into laterals too. And the newly hatched grubs were also seen way up in the tunnels. So that gives us the following two options for now(till we learn more about the pest):
1. Cultural –
a. The affected branches may be cut to sound wood & the cut pasted for protection.
b. The branches /plants pruned off should be removed onto an open area and burnt. The branches should be carried out in bags..
2. Chemical –
a. “The larvae may be killed in situ by pouring a strong solution of an insecticide like Endosulfan/Quinalphos by using an ink filler and plugging the holes”. A syringe could be used with advantage.
b. However, after seeing the extent of tunneling & the location of the grubs I would not recommend this – maybe when there are only isolated cases of infestation, this could work...

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The Stem Borer from Namchick estate in Arunachal,INDIA

This big stem borer has suddenly been causing a lot of damage. Going around the estate earlier this week I observed a lot of damage. Much more than thought earlier. On putting some workers on detecting & pruning-off till live wood, we have found about 15 plants per hectare that had to be uprooted/collar pruned. And this is what is visible. The team is now going around other areas in the estate in dealing with the affected plants.
The measures being taken are - prune down to live wood, paste the cut, remove the pruned part of the bush out onto a road & burn the lot. Bags are being used to carry the bushes out for burning.
We started splitting the branches to look at the borer (note the attached photographs) we discovered that the larvae, in great numbers, were tucked up in some smaller branches too. The tunnelling too is all over the plant's main stems. Thus I decided that the treatment was to remove affected branches & burn them.
I have asked Director TRA,Jorhat & Director UPASI to have a look at the photographs and let me know what borrer it is. To me it appeared very similar to the 'Fassus Borrer' that was prevelant in Coffee in South India, or was it East Africa ?