Nature of Damage

  • Caterpillar (Fig. 1 & 2) makes a bunch of leaves by silken thread and feeds inside by cutting the leaf. It feeds on chlorophyll by scrapping and produce parchment (Fig. 6). 
  • Thereafter, the caterpillars bore through the basal part of the flower and bud making bigger sized holes as compared to that of bud borer (Fig. 3 and 4). 
  • The infestation of this pest can be easily spotted by the presence of webbed shoots (Fig. 5), the appearance of dark brown patches on leaves and clusters of dried leaves.
  • It also causes damage to fruits by making holes and galleris on sapota endosperm (Fig. 7 & 8).