Silkworm Goldfish

The gold-winged bird, or the golden silkworm, belongs to the family of butterflies of the Piper. Often we see her on warm nights, often called the night moth. Its entire appearance evokes sentimental feelings in a person, we sometimes do not even imagine how deceptive nature is, creating outwardly cute dangerous pests.

So in the photo, the gold-winged bird looks tender and fluffy.

Biological characteristics of the pest

Spread

The distribution area of ​​the goldfish is small, but it affects almost the entire European continent, as well as part of Central and Asia Minor. In Russia, the butterfly lives throughout the European part to the Urals in the east and forest-tundra in the North.

Reference! Since oak leaves are a favorite delicacy of a goldfish, we can say this: if there is an oak, there may be a golden silkworm.

Description

Let's start with a description of the imago - the adult butterfly of a goldfish. As can be seen from the above photograph, her body is yellow, one might even say - golden, for which she was given another name - Zolotochka. The span of the white and fluffy wings is about 30-35 millimeters, which is a very impressive indicator for the butterflies of this family.

The golden silkworm has a pronounced dimorphism, a difference in individuals of the opposite sex.

As can be seen from the figure, the female abdomen is voluminous and has a lighter color.

The goldfish caterpillar reaches a length of four centimeters and is painted in gray-black with an orange-red pattern.

The body of the caterpillar is covered with long hairs, which can cause certain troubles to people and animals.

1. Touching them can cause a slight burn to the skin.
2. Particles of hair are dangerous for the respiratory tract. This is especially inconvenient for people with an increased allergic reaction.

Attention! A solution of baking soda, sodium bicarbonate will help relieve pain and itching from a burn of a goldfish. To do this, a spoonful of powder is dissolved in a liter of warm water and a damaged area is moistened with a swab.

Insect development

We turn to the description of the life cycle of the Zolotochka. Eggs hibernate in her silk cocoon. By the way, thanks to the presence of such protection, the pest suffers the most severe winters. With the onset of spring positive temperatures, larvae emerge from the eggs.

It should be noted that insects at the stage of larvae, pupae and adults are very thermophilic. For example, the yield of larvae is optimal when the average daily temperature reaches at least 12 degrees Celsius. Then the caterpillars begin to actively feed, passing through several stages of molting.

It is interesting! The males of the goldfish change their outfit four times, and the female fashionistas five!

For about a month, the larvae feed on the affected tree, hiding in their cocoons for the night. Then, when the temperature rises to 25-27 degrees, pupation occurs. Black-brown pupae develop for two to three weeks, depending on external factors, after which adult individuals are born.

The breeding season of the goldfish, its years, in the middle zone falls on July – August.After mating, females prepare cocoons in which they place up to three hundred eggs with a diameter of half a centimeter. Clutches are placed on the bottom of the sheet and covered with delicate hairs from the abdomen.
A month later, a second generation of caterpillars appears, which goes under the winter inside the cocoons. This generation pupates in the spring and gives butterflies of the second age.

Nutrition and distribution

Goldfish butterflies are not capable of long-distance flights, therefore, they mainly live locally in a certain area. The spread of the golden silkworm is more to the merit of the wind, which carries cocoons with eggs or pupae.

Goldfish feed on the leaves of trees, preferring, as mentioned above, oaks. In addition, they are able to devour plants such as:

• hawthorn;
• blackthorn;
• aspen;
• linden;
• apple tree;
• pear;
• Birch
• willow
• and many others.

Mostly goldfish feed on low young shoots, which have the most delicate leaves. Having examined the leaves from the branches almost entirely, the larvae move to the neighboring bush and continue their feast.

Harm

As it became clear from the previous chapter, golden silkworm is a great danger to garden and parkland. Especially sorry are the young trees and shrubs that become the first victims of an insatiable pest.

A tree or shrub deprived of leaves becomes defenseless, ceases to receive available nutrition from the sun, the process of photosynthesis stops, and subsequently dies.

The danger is also that after hitting one bush, the pest does not eat up, but moves to neighboring plants, where it feeds until pupation.

Fight

Gardener assistants

Most of the fight against goldfish is taken over by our best helpers: birds and carnivorous insects. They are especially distinguished in the fight against this fluffy scourge of jays, tits and cuckoos. Therefore, the best defense of your garden will be to attract these helpful helpers to the site.

Advice! Take the time to equip the bird feeders in your garden. This is especially true for the winter season. Accustomed to feed in the winter on your site birds and in the summer will visit you.

Other useful helpers are predatory insects. Among them it is worth noting:

• tahin flies;
• poachers;
• chalcides;
• and others.

Prevention

One of the most important measures in the fight against Golden Silkworm is a routine inspection of trees growing on your site. It is best to determine the degree of infection visually in the autumn period after most of the leaves have already fallen.

At this time, as well as in the spring before budding, it is easiest to notice cobwebly cocoons on the branches. Single formations can be assembled by hand, and if the defeat is widespread, the best solution is to cut branches and then burn them.

Attention! These preventive clippings will give the best result when they are carried out together with neighbors in the site. If there is a tree with pests behind the fence, it is highly likely that they will want to visit your garden.

Destruction

If prevention has not been carried out or the measures taken have not yielded results, you should arm yourself with heavy weapons - pesticides. It’s not a pity that “apples should be watered with muck”, but it’s necessary. Apply drugs until the caterpillars exit the cocoons, or with a detected mass lesion. Insecticides use the same ones as for the destruction of other insects, the same Colorado potato beetle, for example.

We illustrate our story with a video about creating hunting belts that can protect trees from pests.