Dendrolimus sibiricus

Taxonomy

Domain	Eukarya
Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Arthropoda
Subphylum	Hexapoda
Class	Insecta
Subclass	Pterygota
Infraclass	Neoptera
Superorder	Holometabola
Order	Lepidoptera
Superfamily	Lasiocampoidea
Family	Lasiocampidae
Subfamily	Pinarinae
Tribe	Pinarini
Genus	Dendrolimus

Scientific Name

Scientific Name Synonyms

Dendrolimus superans sibiricus

Dendrolimus laricis

Common Name

Siberian moth

Siberian moth (Dendrolimus sibiricus) is widely distributed in Urals, Siberia, and the Far East (Fig. 2). Outbreaks occur in Abies sibirica, Pinus sibirica, Picea spp. and Larix spp. forests, although larvae feed on most conifers in the family Pinaceae.

The length of the life cycle varies from two to four calendar years depending on population density. The larvae of the males have 5 to 9 instars, those of the females 6 to 10; typically males have 5 and females 6. The larvae are up to 110 mm long. Moths fly from the end of June to the beginning of August and lay eggs on needles or branches. Commonly two winters are spent in the larval stage; second to third instars and fifth to sixth instars overwinter coiled up, under the forest litter. Pupation occurs from mid-June to late July in cocoons in tree crowns. During outbreaks, a large portion of excessively dense populations has a life cycle of two calendar years and the rest have a three year cycle. As a result, the adults of two generations emerge simultaneously and the population increases sharply. At the depression phase, some portion of the population have a four calendar year life cycle, where three winters are spent as larvae.

D. sibiricus is the major defoliator of coniferous forests in Asian Russia. In the fir-dominated forests of Central Siberia there were 10 outbreaks since 1873, the last 5 were carefully documented. They occurred in 1935-1947, 1950-1959, 1962-1969, 1978-1985 and 1989-1997 defoliating 0.7, 2.6, 0.9, 0.1 and 1.1 million ha respectively. These forests all died, either directly from the defoliation or from the increasing attacks of the fir sawyer beetle or fire. In the South Siberia, D. sibiricus outbreaks take place in larch forests. Outbreaks on larch are not as destructive as those on firs because larch is very tolerant to defoliation.

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References

Yuri N. Baranchikov - Institute of Forestry, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Science, Krasnoyarsk 660036, Russia. From: Exotic Pests of Eastern Forests, Conference Proceedings - April 8-10, 1997, Nashville, TN, Edited by: Kerry O. Britton, USDA Forest Service & TN Exotic Pest Plant Council