Giant wood moth
Giant wood moths
© Queensland Government
Giant wood moth exit hole
© Queensland Government
Giant wood moths affect plantation productivity by weakening trees and increasing risk of breaking in strong winds. They attack trees more than 3 years old, and the damage can reduce the quality of harvested logs.
Scientific name
Endoxyla cinereus
Description
- Larvae are large, up to 10cm long and 2-3cm wide, creamy with pinkish stripes and a brown head, and tunnel in sapwood and heartwood while feeding.
- Adults are large with a wingspan of 25cm but are rarely seen.
- Early activity is often found as a pile of coarse frass (similar to sawdust) at the base of the tree stem.
- Swollen stem around the entrance hole.
- Larvae feed singly in J-shaped tunnels in both sapwood and heartwood.
- Before the moths emerge in midsummer, a large, circular exit hole (3-5cm diameter) is created above the smaller entrance hole, which is often plugged with frass.
- Empty pupal cases may protrude from exit holes during summer.
Distribution
- New South Wales, and South East to North Queensland.
- Recorded 200km inland at Theodore, Queensland.
Hosts
- Gympie messmate (Eucalyptus cloeziana)
- rose gum (E. grandis and hybrids)
- Dunn's white gum (E. dunnii)
- grey gum (E. longirostrata).
Damage
- Tunnels made by the larvae weaken smaller stems, which can snap in strong winds.
- Yellow-tailed black cockatoos tear into stems when feeding on wood moth larvae, further damaging and weakening the tree.
Resources and research
- Pests and diseases image library (PaDIL)
- Pest Genie - find pesticides registered for use in forestry
- Last reviewed: 12 Dec 2018
- Last updated: 12 Dec 2018