It turns out that the cycad little gray butterfly looks like this

Cycad small gray butterfly, also known as curved purple gray butterfly, cycad gray butterfly, is a lepidoptera pest, mainly harmful to cycad plants. The larvae only endanger the new leaves that were extracted that year, and the hatching larvae sneak into the fist roll feather leaves to nibble on the young feather leaves, and the amount of food increases sharply with the age of the insects, resulting in the mutilation of the new feathers, and even only the petiole and leaf axis remain. Mainly in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Fujian, Nanjing.

[1] Morphological characteristics

Adults are 12 to 13 mm long , with a wingspan of 26 to 35 mm , grey-black or grey-brown scales , antennae up to 2/3 of the leading edge of the forewings , club-shaped , brownish-black compound eyes , white forehead and peristal whiskers , white ventral surface , and a black band protruding from the hips of the hindwings. The female is slightly larger , with grey-brown wings , but the posterior margin of the hindwings is grayish white ; the female forewings are red at 1/4 of the base , the rest are grayish black and brown , the base and leading edge of the hindwings are black and brown , the rest are red , the back of the abdomen is red , and the rest are white to grayish white. The larvae are 0.1 to 1.1 cm long, the head is small and bright purple-black, the body is hypertrophy and slightly flattened, there are fine hairs on the back of the body, there is a longitudinal stripe darker than the body color in the center, and there is also a ring-like longitudinal stripe that is darker than the body color on both sides, the body color is divided into two kinds of pale yellow and jujube red, the smaller larvae are lighter or even whiter, the body is thinner, the larger one is darker, the body is thick and flat, the head is often constricted, and the upper section of the head and the longitudinal axis of the body are about 45 ° inclined.

[2] Life habits

The insect occurs from May to November, and is often clustered in and around the bud scales at the top of the iron tree head or scattered on the front or back of the more tender leaves, mainly eating the petioles and leaflets of young leaves that have grown or not grown, and mainly eating the back of the leaf on the larger new leaves and older leaves that have grown, and the leaf parts are often eaten only the upper epidermis. Endangered plants often appear the whole plant does not produce new leaves, the young leaves wilt and dry to death, or the leaflets partially or completely dried up and rolled up, and in severe cases, only the main leaf vein or even part is left. When there are many insect mouths, the whole plant can suddenly dry up and roll up in three or five days. The insect is very stubborn and relatively hidden before the pest, although a single dose can kill a large number of larvae, but because it can not kill the eggs, it often occurs in large quantities after a week.

[3] Prevention and control methods

1. Do a good job in clearing the garden in winter, remove the dead branches and leaves of the tree, remove the side buds on the stem, and reduce the source of overwintering insects.

2. Early application and application of sufficient base fertilizer to promote the growth and hardening of newly drawn feather leaves, and avoid the overlap between the peak period of insect infestation and plant growth.

3. Use a set of eradication nets with 40 kg of water for root application.