Other Common Names
Blackberry Clearwing Borer
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Pennisetia marginatum (Harris, 1839)
Trochilium marginatum Harris, 1839
Sphecia marginatum
Bembecia marginatum
* phylogenetic sequence #078750
Size
Forewing length 8-16 mm.
(1),
(2)
Wingspan: ♂ 18-25 mm, ♀ 25-37 mm.
(3)
Larva length to 29-38 mm.
(3)Identification
Adult - resembles a yellow jacket. Body black with some yellow streaking and four or more narrow yellow bands around abdomen; legs dull yellow; forewing dark olive and reddish-brown with prominent dark discal bar; antennae black, pectinate in male, simple in female (see description at E.H. Strickland Museum).
Larva - white, sometimes pinkish, with brown head.
(3)Range
Throughout most of United States and southern Canada. Fewer records from the Rockies and the Great Plains.
(4)Habitat
Adults are active during the day on or near raspberry/blackberry plants.
Season
Adults fly from July to October.
(4)Food
Larvae bore inside and girdle the canes of
blackberry/raspberry, including
Rubus idaeus, R. occidentalis, R. procerus, R. lacineatus, R. loganobaccus, R. odoratus, R. spectabilis. They do not feed on leaves or fruit.
(4)Life Cycle
Most individuals require two years to complete development but all life stages are present in any given year. Eggs laid singly on underside of host leaf in August and September. Overwinters as young larvae then feeds on new canes in the spring. Older larvae often girdle canes near ground-level causing much damage.
(1),
(2)Print References
Beuttenmüller, W. 1901. Monograph of the Sesiidae of America, north of Mexico. Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History 1(6):
260-261,
pl.29, f.14
(5)
Brown, L.N. & R.F. Mizell, III 1993. The Clearwing Borers of Florida (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae). Tropical Lepidoptera 4(4): 1-21 (
PDF)
(2)
Duckworth, W.D & T.D. Eichlin 1978. The Clearwing Moths of California (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae). California Department Of Food and Agriculture Occasional Papers in Entomology 27: 1-80, f.1-40, pl.1-8 (
PDF)
(4)
Engelhardt, G.P. 1946. The North American Clear-wing Moths of the family Aegeriidae. United States National Museum Bulletin 190:
192-194 (6)
Powell, J.A. & P.A. Opler 2009. Moths of Western North America. University of California Press. pl.12.41f, p.123
(1)
Solomon, J.D. 1995. Guide to insect borers in North American broadleaf trees and shrubs. USDA Forest Service Agriculture Handbook AH-706: 101-104, f.39 (
Download)
(3)Internet References
biology and signs of damage plus common name reference [Raspberry Crown Borer] and photos of larva and damage (Govt. of Manitoba)
