Contents - LAC Biosafety

Pest profile
Celosterna scabrator Fabr. (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae)
10.1 Acacia species (Fabaceae: Mimosoideae) 193
This beetle is commonly known in India as babul (Acacia nilotica) borer,
because it has been frequently recorded in plantations of this tree species.
However, it is a polyphagous species, attacking saplings of other tree species as
well (see below). The beetle is 25–40 mm long and dull yellowish brown (Fig. 10.2a).
Life history Details of the life history have been worked out in India by
Stebbing (1914) and Beeson (1931b). It has an annual life cycle. The adults emerge
from the host with the onset of monsoon, in June–July. They feed on the bark of
young shoots. Eggs are deposited under bark on stems, 5–23 cm girth, within
15 cm above ground level, usually one egg per stem. The newly hatched larva
bores into the stem and as it grows tunnels downwards hollowing out the main
root (Fig. 10.2b). The larva ejects the frass through a hole in the stem just above
the ground level and the frass accumulates at the base of the stem. The larval
Fig. 10.2 Celosterna scabrator. (a) Adult (length 25 mm), (b) diagrammatic view of an
infested Acacia nilotica sapling, showing the larval tunnel. After Beeson (1941).