Cossus cossus (carpenter moth)

The larvae of C. cossus bore in all directions in the sap and heartwood of tree trunks and branches making extensive feeding galleries. Attacks are normally confined to the trunks of mature trees; branches and shoots are less often infested (Alford, 1991).Larvae can cause serious damage, often killing the tree (Alford, 1984). Larval tunnels interfere with sap circulation and make the branches susceptible to breakage in the wind (Gavioli, 1984).

Due to its wood-boring nature, C. cossus can be a serious and economically important pest of fruit trees, ornamental trees and forest plantations (Turundaevskaya, 1992).In Italy, C. cossus is a principal pest of pome fruits in the Emilia-Romagna region (Pasqualini, 1983; Pasqualini et al., 1993) and in south-eastern France it has been a serious pest particularly of poplar (Audemard, 1974). In the Netherlands, it has caused considerable damage to roadside avenues of trees of various species (Doom, 1979). C. cossus is not an economically important pest in the UK (Speight, 1986).Between 1962 and 1969 an outbreak of C. cossus occurred in the Plovdiv district of Bulgaria during a period of high summer temperature and low relative humidity. Up to 80% of the Fraxinus americana trees were attacked, of which 21% died (Sengalewitsch, 1971).South of the Russian Federation, in Volograd and Rostov and in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Georgia and Armenia, C. cossus is widespread and one of the most important pests of artificial forest plantings (Krivosheina and Tokgaev, 1985). In orchards, it causes great damage to most of the common fruit trees including apples, quince, pear and plum (Anfinnikov, 1979; Lyashenko, 1980; Krivosheina and Yagdyev, 1985, 1986).