Appearance
Dark with a fine greyish vestiture, pronotum with 2 kidney-shaped orange yellow spots, scutellum white, elytra in basal third with numerous black tubercles, and several yellowish spots variable in number and shape. Full grown grubs are cream coloured with dark brown head, and 100 x 20 mm in size.Size: 35 - 70 mm.
Naming
Common namesMango tree borer; Tropical fig borer
Distribution
Pakistan, India, Ceylon, Andaman, China (Tibet, Hainan), Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia. Introduced in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, Africa, Madagascar, Comores, Mauritius, Virgin Is., Puerto Rico.
Reproduction
The female cuts the tree bark and lays eggs singly into these cuts, laying a total of up to 200 eggs. Egg is a brownish-white cylinder, 6.2 mm, with narrowly rounded ends. On hatching the larvae start to tunnel into the sapwood of the trunk or branches. Larval development takes about 2 years. As a very large species, the larval tunnel measuring 2 or 3 centimeters in width that is correspondingly large and very damaging to the tree. The larvae tunnel through the sapwood and because of their size, they make large tunnel which interfere with sap flow and affect foliage and fruit production.Pupation takes place within the stem. Beetle emerges in july-august. There is only one generation of the pest in a year. The adult beetle emerges by a short tunnel running to the exterior and ending in a circular exit-hole. The maximum life recorded for the adult is eight months.
Food
A serious pest of edible fig, mango, guava, jackfruit, pomegranate, apple, rubber, and walnut. In India recorded for more than 30 different host plants.References:
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