Populus is a genus of 25–30 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae, native to most of the Northern Hemisphere. English names variously applied to different species include poplar, aspen, and cottonwood.
The Sesiidae or clearwing moths are a diurnal moth family in the order Lepidoptera known for their Batesian mimicry in both appearance and behaviour of various Hymenoptera.
The ash borer, or lilac borer, is a clearwing moth in the family Sesiidae. It is found throughout North America and can be a pest of ash and lilac.
The squash vine borer is a diurnal species of sesiid moth. The moth is often mistaken for a bee or wasp because of its movements, and the bright orange hind leg scales. The females typically lay their eggs at the base of leaf stalks, and the caterpillars develop and feed inside the stalk, eventually killing the leaf. They soon migrate to the main stem, and with enough feeding damage to the stem, the entire plant may die. For this reason, it is considered a pest that attacks cultivated varieties of squash, zucchini, pumpkin, and acorn squash. The squash vine borer is native to North America, with some reports as far south as Brazil and Argentina. It lives in most temperate North American states, except the Pacific coast. Southern states have two broods a year.
The hornet moth or hornet clearwing is a large moth native to Europe and the Middle East and has been introduced to North America. Its protective coloration is an example of Batesian mimicry, as its similarity to a hornet makes it unappealing to predators. The hornet moth has been linked to the large dieback of poplar trees across Europe because its larvae bore into the trunk of the tree before re-emerging as adults.
Paranthrene tabaniformis, the dusky clearwing, is a moth of the family Sesiidae. It is found in the Palearctic and Nearctic realms.
Sesia bembeciformis, the lunar hornet moth, is a moth of the family Sesiidae. It is found in Europe.
Ichneumenoptera chrysophanes, the clearwing persimmon borer, is a moth of the family Sesiidae. It is found from Cairns in Queensland to Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory.
The cottonwood borer is a species of longhorn beetle found in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains that feeds on cottonwood trees. It is one of the largest insects in North America, with lengths reaching 40 millimetres (1.6 in) and widths, 12 mm (0.47 in). It is the only species in the genus Plectrodera.
Euzophera semifuneralis, the American plum borer, is a moth of the family Pyralidae. It is found throughout the United States, southern Canada and parts of Mexico.
Synanthedon scitula, the dogwood borer or pecan borer, is a moth that is a pest of many plants including the dogwood and pecan. It is notorious due to the severity of damage it can cause and its widespread geographical distribution.
Synanthedon sequoiae, the sequoia pitch moth, is a moth of the family Sesiidae. It is found from California north to British Columbia.
Synanthedon pictipes, the lesser peachtree borer, is a moth of the family Sesiidae. It is known from the eastern half of Canada and the United States westward to Minnesota in the north and eastern Texas in the south.
Synanthedon pini, the pitch mass borer, is a moth of the family Sesiidae. The pitch mass borer occurs on spruce and pine in eastern North America. It does not kill trees, but the pitch-filled larval tunnels in the wood cause defects in the lumber.
Paranthrene robiniae, the western poplar clearwing, is a moth of the family Sesiidae. It is found from sea level to near the timber line from Alaska southward along the Pacific Coast to southern California and throughout the Rocky Mountains into the desert southwest and as far east as Kansas and North Dakota.
Paranthrene simulans, the red oak clearwing borer, hornet clearwing or oak clearwing borer, is a moth of the family Sesiidae. It is found in eastern North America, from Nova Scotia to Florida, west to Minnesota, Missouri and Mississippi.
Chamaesphecia hungarica, the Hungarian clearwing moth, is a moth of the family Sesiidae. It is native to the south-eastern Czech Republic and Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Serbia and Croatia. It was originally approved for introduction into the United States in 1993. It has been released at several leafy spurge-infested sites in Montana and North Dakota.
Synanthedon formicaeformis, the red-tipped clearwing, is a moth of the family Sesiidae and can be found in all of Europe, the eastern Palearctic realm, and the Near East. The larvae sometimes form pear-shaped galls on willows. It was first described by Eugenius Johann Christoph Esper in 1783.
Synanthedon mesiaeformis is a moth of the family Sesiidae. It is found in France, Spain, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, most of the Balkan Peninsula, Finland, Russia and Asia Minor. The species prefers solitary trees on meadows, in parks and along streams.
Sesamia cretica, the corn stem borer, greater sugarcane borer, sorghum stem borer, stem corn borer, durra stem borer, large corn borer, pink sugarcane borer, sugarcane pink borer, sorghum borer, pink corn borer, maize borer or purple stem borer, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It was described by Julius Lederer in 1857. It is found in most of the countries and islands of the Mediterranean basin. The range extends through the Middle East and Arabia to Pakistan, northern India and northern Africa. In the south, the range extends to northern Kenya and northern Cameroon.
