Project Meliaceae

Plantation Management: Shoot Borer Issues (and other insects
                                        and pathogens)

This web site is a continually evolving and ongoing project. Its purpose is to improve communication among all groups and individuals that are involved with these species. We need your help! If you have a link, information to share, or are interested in authoring a section of the site, please send email to: mftf@mahoganyforthefuture.org

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CSIRO Australia Entomology

ACIAR is currently funding 2 projects and has another concluded on Meliaceae.
FST/1998/085 The taxonomy of the shoot borer, Hypsipyla robusta and allied species in the Asian/Australian region. (concluded)
FST/1996/005 Development of domestication strategies for commercially important species of Meliaceae
FST/1997/024 Insect resistance and silvicultural control of the shoot borer, Hypsipyla robusta, feeding on species of Meliaceae in SoutheastAsia and Australia.

Hypsipyla Project: This project aims to understand the relationship between the insect Hypsipyla robusta, and the trees it likes to eat, in particular Toona ciliata and Chukrasia tabularis. We hope that by understanding this relationship we will be able to develop techniques for growing these trees in plantations in southeast Asia and Australia.
http://www.ento.csiro.au/research/natres/hypsipyla/
Also see: http://www.forest.go.th/FIG/pests/hypsipyla/aciar.htm
Links verified 2 August 2004

Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR)
Publication available on web or for purchase
Hypsipyla shoot borers in Meliaceae: proceedings of an international workshop held at Kandy, Sri Langka, 20-25 August 1996/ Editors, R.B. Floyd and C. Hauxwell.-- Canberra: ACIAR, 2001. vi, 189 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.-- (ACIAR Proceedings; No. 97)
321/MS/2001     ISBN 0642-45621-6     595.78
HYPSIPYLA; MELIACEAE.
http://www.aciar.gov.au/web.nsf/doc/JFRN-5J472Q
http://www.publish.csiro.au/books/bookpage.cfm?PID=2908
Links verified 2 August 2004
Summary
“Damage from shoot borers of the genus Hypsipyla Ragonot present the greatest deterrent to the establishment and cultivation of the high value timber species belonging to the family Meliaceae, including species of Swietenia, Khaya, Toona and Cedrela. The most serious damage to the tree results from the tunnelling of the lava in the developing shoots. This boring leads to the death of the terminal shoot and subsequent production of laterals, eventually resulting in a stunted, continuously branched and crooked tree of greatly diminished value for timber production. Growth rate is reduced and death can result from heavy and repeated attacks. This publication contains the papers presented at an International Workshop held at Kandy, Sri Lanka 20-23 August 1996. The review describes the biology and ecology of the main Hypsipyla species and highlights areas warranting further research.”
Chapters include:
MAUÉS, M.M. A Review of Hypsipyla grandella Zeller research in Pará State, Brazil. p.63-66.

Controlling the shoot borer, Hypsipyla robusta
http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/qfri/10780.html
Link dead verified 2 August 2004
This project of the The Queensland Forestry Research Institute on red cedar (Toona ciliata). Examines a range of genetic material and silvicultural techniques that may prove useful I resistance/control  Trials have been established in Australia and collaborating nations in South East Asia. 

Publication available on the Web:
The Major Pests and Weeds of Agriculture and Plantation Forestry in the Southern and Western Pacific
Hypsipyla robusta
http://wwwx.ecoport.org/Books/MajInv.pdf
Link verified 2 August 2004

The interactions of Khaya anthotheca and Hypsipyla in Mozambique
http://www.plants.ox.ac.uk/ofi/pubs/annrep99.htm
Link verified 2 August 2004

Coordinated effort to beat the cedar tip moth
Research updates from CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products
Onwood 29 - Winter 2000
“A major project involving researchers in Australia and Southeast Asia is investigating ways to stop the main pest of red cedar, the cedar tip moth, preventing establishment of plantations of this highly valued tree.” http://www.ffp.csiro.au/publicat/onwood/onwood29/onwood29stripped.html#Heading5
Link dead 2 August 2004

Protecting Africa’s Trees (reference to Hypsipyla robusta)
http://www.fao.org/docrep/w7126E/w7126e09.htm
Link verified 2 August 2004

Hypsipyla robusta (Moore, 1886) Cedar Tip Moth
Text and pictures by Don Herbison-Evans & Stella Crossley
http://202.28.24.101/internet/tech/round_table_meeting/document_maiyomhom/document4.doc
Link verified 2 August 2004

Dear Colleagues:
Recently, I published a paper on  a "Chemical Interactions between Hypsipyla grandella and its host plants", it is in Spanish on Revista de Manejo Integrado (Costa Rica) 60:15-21,2001.
ABSTRACT
The mahogany shoot borer, Hypsipyla grandella, is probably the major limiting factor to the establishment of mahogany and Spanish cedar plantations in America. These tree species are the most important American tropical timber in the international commerce. Recently, the big-leaf mahogany, Swietenia macrophylla, it has being proposed as an endangered species. Some publications document biological and ecological aspects of the insect, including several papers on chemical and silvicultural control of the pest. However, very little is known about the interaction between the insect and its host. This work takes a closer look to this interaction through the discipline of chemical ecology, and analyzes the information available on host specificity, as well as on insect's major behavioral patterns. At the same time, stress the need to study this interaction by focussing in the entire Meliaceae family and not just in the commercial species. Those other species can provide not only important information about the insect - plat interactions, but also they could be good alternatives as a timber source. An in depth discussion is made on evidences that claim the existence of pheromones, which are involved in H. grandella mating behavior, and on female attraction to host volatiles. The knowledge of these chemical driven phenomena, support the design of ecological robust management practices, that would be both, environmentally friendly and species specific. I discussed several management tactics, where semiochemicals are involved, and that had been successfully used with other lepidopetorus pest.
Key words: Hypsipyla grandella, chemical ecology, Swietenia, Meliaceae, management, American tropical forest.
Also in a joint project with CATIE-Chemtica Inc. - ECOSUR, we are field testing pheromone candidates for H. grandella.
From:
Dr. Jorge E. Macías Sámano
Colegio de la Frontera Sur, ECOSUR
Ecología de Insectos Forestales
jmacias@tap-ecosur.edu.mx
jmacias33@hotmail.com

The Seasonal Abundance and Feeding Damage of Hypsipyla grandella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in Seed Capsules of Swietenia Mahagoni in Florida
http://www.fcla.edu/FlaEnt/fe80p34.htm
Link verified 2 August 2004

A.C. Newton, J.P. Cornelius, J.F. Mesén, E.A. Corea, and A.D. Watt. 1998. Variation in attack by the mahogany
shoot borer, Hypsipyla grandella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), in relation to host growth and phenology. Bulletin of Entomological Research (1998) 88, 319–326
Full text available.
http://pest.cabweb.org/PDF/BER/BER88-3/319.pdf
http://pest.cabweb.org
Links verified 2 August 2004

Estudio sobre: Efecto de Hypsipylla grandella en Swietenia macrophylla (Caoba)
Jardin Botánico Lancetilla
Honduras
http://www.lancetilla-oimt.hn/jardin_botanico/programas/investigacion_conservacion.html
http://www.lancetilla-oimt.hn/jardin_botanico/
Links verified 2 August 2004

VENNETIER M., 1998. Le Mahogany à grandes feuilles (Swietenia macrophylla King). Office National des Fôrets Bulletin Technique 36: 23-28.
Autecology, susceptibility to Hypsipyla grandella.
Source: Office National des Fôrets
Abstract available
http://www.onf.fr/doc/bt/bt36.htm
Link verified 2 August 2004

PLAN J.,VENNETIER M., 1998. Contribution des dispositifs expérimentaux de Martinique à la sylviculture du mahogany à grandes feuilles. Office National des Fôrets Bulletin Technique 36: 29-38.
Autecology, susceptibility to Hypsipyla grandella.
Source: Office National des Fôrets
Abstract available
http://www.onf.fr/doc/bt/bt36.htm
Link verified 2 August 2004


Martorell, L. F. 1940. Some notes on forest entomology. Caribbean Forester 1(3):24-25
Swietenia macrophylla attacked by a scale.  An attack by Ichnapsis longirostris was found on the midribs of the leaves onf the lower branches.  This produced extreme chlorosis and eventually defoliation.  (Abstracted by F. H. Wadsworth)

Martorell, L. F. 1940. Some notes on forest entomology. Caribbean Forester 1(1): 24-25
Coffee stem borer attacks young Swietenia mahagoni.  A heavy outbreak of Apate franciscawas found in three-year-old trees.  Some trees 1 to 3 inches in stem diameter had as many as 20 tunnels. The outbreak was the result of a large accumulation of trunks and branches on the ground near the trees. The infestation spread to other species.  Some trees died.  A crew was put to work with stiff wires penetrating the tunnels and saved thousands of trees.  (Abstracted by F. H. Wadsworth)

Wolcott, G. W. 1940. A list of woods arranged according to their resistance to attack of the polilla, the drywood termite of the West Indies, Criptotermes brevis. Caribbean Forester 1(4);1-12
Mahagoni resistant to dry-wood termites.   Tests show that the wood of Swietenia mahagoni, considered immune to the attack by dry-wood termites, Chriptotermes brevis, may be eaten to a slight extent.  The sapwood is not especially resistant.  Furniture should be free of sapwood to avoid attack. (Abstracted by F. H. Wadsworth)

Holdridge, L. R. 1941. Preliminary notes on the silviculture of big-leaf mahogany. Caribbean Forester 2(1):20-23
Shoot borer attack in Swietenia macrophylla is less under shade. (Abstracted by F. H. Wadsworth)

Wightman, KE. Aké, I.P.  2002. Control del barrenador de brotes (Hypsipyla grandella) en caoba y cedro. [Control of the shoot borer (Hypsipyla grandella) in mahogany and Spanish cedar.]. Tropica Rural. Boletín Informativo No. 3. Nov. – Dec.
Training and extension materials:

Wolcott, G. N. 1940.  A list of woods arranged according to their resistance to the dry-wood termite of the West Indies, Cryptotermes brevis Walker.  Caribbean Forester 1(4):1-10.
Cedrela resistance. Cedrela odorata is very resistant to drywood termite attack, the heartwood little more resistant than the sapwood. Termites do make short holes in it and daub it with excrement with nothing else to eat. Its continued use in mahogany furniture is indicated  as a lining, or for drawers or shelves.  Wolcott, G. N. 1940.  A list of woods arranged according to their resistance to the dry-wood termite of the West Indies, Cryptotermes brevis Walker.  Caribbean Forester 1(4):1-10.    

Alvarez-Garcia, L. A. 1940.  A cedar seedling blight in Puerto Rico. Caribbean Forester 1(2):26.
Cedrela seedling blight. A severe blight was observed defoliating and even killing small Cedrela odorata trees. Lesions first appear as minute discolored specks that grow to 25 mm in diameter. The spots become yellow and brown. Where the number of lesions is large, the leaves turn yellow and some may show minute black fruiting bodies. Heavily infected seedlings shed their leaves and eventually die. The parasite infects the petioles and young twigs. The causal agent is the fungus Phyllachora balansae. The organism has been reported on various species of Cedrela in tropical America. 

DeLeon, D. 1941. Some observations on forest entomology in Puerto Rico  Caribbean Forester 2(4):160-163.
Shoot-borer. Hypsipyla grandella, the cedar shoot borer, is the cause of outbreaks in plantations of Cedrela odorata. The injury is caused by the larvae which mine out the center of new shoots. These finally wilt and die. Constant attacks on small trees occasionally kill them or at least stunts growth and causes excessive branching. It is believed that the highly unnatural conditions caused by pure plantations on unsuitable sites contribute to the increase of the caterpillar.

Beard, J. S. 1942. Summary of silvicultural experience with cedar, Cedrela mexicana Roem, in Trinidad.  Caribbean Forester 3(3):91-102.
Cedar problems. Hypsipyla grandella moths lay eggs in young leaf arils.  The larvae, on hatching, turn downward in the pith of the shoot and eventually pupate there.  The shoot dies and branching takes place below the dead part.  Young seedlings are liable to destruction by mole crickets that cut the roots. The dying of cedars is accompanied by root rot, elongated distorted shoots, blistered bark and irregular loss of leaves. The cedar problem would appear to be one of soil moisture relative to a sensitive root system. There are numerous contradictions, with healthy cedar flourishing under swamp conditions. It has proven impossible to grow cedar as a crop in evergreen forest areas. In semi-evergreen forest areas growth is slow and there is a risk of fire.  The solution is yet elusive.

Wolcott, G. N. 1946. Factors in the natural resistance of woods to termite attack.  Caribbean Forester 7(2):121-134.
Cedar repellant.  A repellant in the wood of Spanish cedar, Cedrela odorata, may be cadinene.  Dry-wood termites, Cryptotermes brevis can eat the wood of Cedrela odorata but it gives them dysentery so severe that their normally hard excrement pellets appear as daubs on the wood they have been forced to eat. 

Wolcott, G. N. 1946. A list of woods arranged according to their resistance to the attack of the West Indian dry-wood termite, Cryptotermes brevis (Walker). Caribbean Forester 7(4):329-336.
Drywood termite resistance. S. mahagoni is “most resistant;” S. macrophylla from Belize was found “susceptible”