Zeuzera multistrigata is a wood-boring moth of South, Southeast, and East Asia whose caterpillars tunnel inside the trunks and branches of living trees. It is not found in the US, but its close relative the leopard moth (Zeuzera pyrina), a similar white moth with black spots, was introduced to the northeastern US before 1879. Females are about twice the size of males.
Appearance
- Appearance
- Females have a wingspan of about 2.8 in (70 mm) and males about 1.4 in (35 mm). The forewings are see-through with dark brown dots, the hindwings are white with a few dark spots near the edge, and the thorax is covered in white hair with dark spots.
Look-alikes
Leopard mothZeuzera pyrina
Location is the easiest clue: in the US, a white wood-boring moth with black spots is most likely the leopard moth, since Zeuzera multistrigata is not known to occur there.
Why they get mixed upBoth are white, black-spotted moths whose caterpillars bore into trees.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Forests
- Plantations
- Orchards
- Range
- Found from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh through Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam to China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and the Russian Far East.
Behavior
- Diet
- Caterpillars feed inside living wood and use a wide range of trees, with more than 28 host plants on record. It is a known pest of Australian pine (Casuarina equisetifolia) in China and of eucalyptus plantations in Vietnam, where it has recently also been found in coffee, passion fruit, and Chinese swamp cypress.
Life cycle
- Larva
- The caterpillar bores round holes about 1/4–3/8 in (6–9 mm) wide and tunnels through the wood. Piles of sawdust-like droppings often collect at the base of attacked plants, and badly tunneled stems can snap in strong wind.
Name and classification
- About the name
- Populations in Korea, Japan, the Russian Far East, and northeastern China are treated as a separate subspecies, leuconota; the rest of the range is the nominate subspecies.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
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