This booklet, published by the Association for Tropical Lepidoptera, provides color images and a listing host plants as well as information on the biology of 41 species of Sesiidae known from Florida.
The following is the Introduction section of the publication:
"Clearwing borers (family Sesiidae) attack a wide variety of shrubs, trees, vines and herbaceous plants. They are major pests of fruit trees, shade trees, landscape plants, and certain forest trees. A total of 41 species of clearwing borers have been recorded in Florida. Many of these species cause serious damage, but the damage is often overlooked or underestimated because the symptoms may resemble plant diseases or weakness caused by drought. The purpose of this bulletin is to facilitate identification of the adult moths and present newly available information on their life history and damage. Adults of all 41 known Florida species are illustrated on Plate 2. Species are listed and illustrated alphabetically; see Appendix 1 for a catalog of the species in phylogenetic order.
"Sesiidae moths are known as clearwing borers. Adult clear-wings resemble wasps and bees, and are often mistaken for them. Their wings are partially or totally devoid of the microscopic scales found in most moths and their bodies are often brightly colored. They also have the ability to hover in one place as do bees and wasps. The larvae of clearwing moths are white to cream-colored and nearly legless. The caterpillars bore in the stems, trunks, and/or roots of various plants. Damage from the tunneling larvae can be severe and lead to the decline and death of the host trees, especially in younger plants. Damage caused by some species is shown on Fig. 42-45. Typical larvae are illustrated in Fig. 46-48.
"Female clearwings release sex attractants called pheromones into the air. These pheromones travel down-wind and stimulate the antennae of receptive males, which then use the sex attractant to locate the signaling female. Males can sometimes detect pheromones as far away as one-half to three-fourths of a mile from the source.
"Chemists have identified and synthesized a number of the pheromones released by several species of clearwing moths (Barry et al. 1978, Nielsen et al. 1975, Tumlinson et al. 1974). This allows entomologists to attract the males of many clearwings in large numbers and to study their mating behavior and flight activity. Several types of moth traps can be baited with various pheromones or combinations of pheromones to clarify the life history and seasonal activity of many species of clearwing borers (Snow, Eichlin and Tumlinson, 1985).
"This publication is designed to assist in identification of adult male clearwings attracted to pheromone traps and to relate this to hostplants that may need protection from egg-laying adults at specific seasons of the year. Adults of both sexes appear similar in most species; the few in Florida that are more dimorphic have the unusual females also illustrated on Plate 2. Most species of clearwing moths have hatches of adults over a rather narrow time-window, which, if known, make efforts against them much more effective and less expensive than otherwise possible."
Additional Information: