Tree Borers

Lesser peachtree borer, Synanthedon pictipes, is an important pest in peach and cherry orchards throughout Pennsylvania and surrounding states. Problems are almost always associated with widespread incidence of Cytospora canker and, to a much lesser extent, pruning wounds, winter injury, and mechanical damage.

Description and life cycle
Adults are day-flying moths that resemble wasps. Veins and margins of transparent wings are fringed with steel-blue scales; the body is blue and narrowly fringed with yellow. Males of lesser peachtree borer have yellow scales on the top of the head between the eyes and black scales between the antennae. This combination differentiates them from peachtree borer males, which have black scales between the eyes and yellow scales between the antennae. Lesser peachtree borer larvae are white with a yellowish-brown head and reach 1 inch at maturity.

For more information, please see this Penn State Tree Fruit Production Guide Web page.

Penn State Horticulture Department

For more information on this subject, Please visit the College of Agricultural Sciences Publications Web site.

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