BORING INSECTS

Fruit tree borer caterpillar

Fruit tree borer caterpillar
Photo credit: Stephen Goodwin

LOOK FOR

CONDITIONS

TERMITES, or white ants, prefer dead wood and bore inside vine trunks. They have straight antennae (ant antennae are elbowed) and lack a narrow ant-like 'waist' behind their legs. Their bodies are pale and soft except in spring, when they are dark and hard with wings which fall off easily (unlike ant wings).

OTHER BORING INSECTS IMAGES

Common auger beetles (1-2 mm) are black-brown

Common auger beetle has eaten around the pith

Fig longicorn larva (2.5 mm) is yellow-grey

Sap exuding from holes bored by common auger beetle adults

Vine weevil, with typical stubby snout and narrow head, bore holes (1-2 mm diam.) in dormant canes

Vine weevile damage to the shoot disrupts sap flow

Adult fig longicorn beetle (top), Elephant weevil (bottom right) and vine weevil (bottom centre) showing relative sizes

Frass from vine borer damage

Damage from vine weevil causes leaves above the bore hole to curl down

LOOKS LIKE