Oncideres cingulata
Encyclopedia
Oncideres Cingulata
The Oncideres cingulata (Say) (Twig Girdler) is a brownish-gray beetle typically 1/2 to 5/8 inch in length in the Family Cerambycidae. It is characterized by long antennae, 1/2 to 1 inch long.
This beetle is widely known for the damage it causes to Pecan
plantations, but also to lumber trees such as hickory
, oak
, poplar
and elm
. In late summer and fall, the adult female girdles small branches (1/4 to 1/2 inch diameter) with its mandibles, cutting through the bark and into the wood, resulting in an effect that looks almost as if it were cut with a small saw. The female lays her eggs singularly in a separate cut into the wood, above the girdled section. Shortly after the twig is girdled and inserted with eggs, it will die and fall from the tree to the ground. The white, legless larva overwinters in the twig, then eats its way through woody tissue to the girdled point in the dead twig, and eventually closes itself in the twig with shredded wood fibers, then pupates over 12 to 14 days. The adult emerges and mates in the summer, feeding off tender woody shoots. This concludes the beetle's single yearly generation.
Twig Girdlers create a difficult infestation in plantations, as they occur late in the season close to nut harvesting. Collecting and burning dead twigs during the winter is key to fighting infestations. They can result in significant crop decreases in the following year, and can also result in the structural problems inherent to inexpert pruning.
The Oncideres cingulata (Say) (Twig Girdler) is a brownish-gray beetle typically 1/2 to 5/8 inch in length in the Family Cerambycidae. It is characterized by long antennae, 1/2 to 1 inch long.
This beetle is widely known for the damage it causes to Pecan
Pecan
The pecan , Carya illinoinensis, is a species of hickory, native to south-central North America, in Mexico from Coahuila south to Jalisco and Veracruz, in the United States from southern Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana east to western Kentucky, southwestern Ohio, North Carolina, South...
plantations, but also to lumber trees such as hickory
Hickory
Trees in the genus Carya are commonly known as hickory, derived from the Powhatan language of Virginia. The genus includes 17–19 species of deciduous trees with pinnately compound leaves and big nuts...
, oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
, poplar
Poplar
Populus is a genus of 25–35 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae, native to most of the Northern Hemisphere. English names variously applied to different species include poplar , aspen, and cottonwood....
and elm
Elm
Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus Ulmus in the plant family Ulmaceae. The dozens of species are found in temperate and tropical-montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ranging southward into Indonesia. Elms are components of many kinds of natural forests...
. In late summer and fall, the adult female girdles small branches (1/4 to 1/2 inch diameter) with its mandibles, cutting through the bark and into the wood, resulting in an effect that looks almost as if it were cut with a small saw. The female lays her eggs singularly in a separate cut into the wood, above the girdled section. Shortly after the twig is girdled and inserted with eggs, it will die and fall from the tree to the ground. The white, legless larva overwinters in the twig, then eats its way through woody tissue to the girdled point in the dead twig, and eventually closes itself in the twig with shredded wood fibers, then pupates over 12 to 14 days. The adult emerges and mates in the summer, feeding off tender woody shoots. This concludes the beetle's single yearly generation.
Twig Girdlers create a difficult infestation in plantations, as they occur late in the season close to nut harvesting. Collecting and burning dead twigs during the winter is key to fighting infestations. They can result in significant crop decreases in the following year, and can also result in the structural problems inherent to inexpert pruning.