English name+ cure for tree-eating bug
Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2014 5:53 am
Can anyone ID this bug? It's a sort of larvae that eats away at trees. When the side of a tree trunk becomes dark (usually leaves start falling off) the bark will feel soft and chunks of tree can be easily removed. Similar to when a tree is infested with termites, but they look like this:
Pardon the bad focus, but they're around 2-4cm long larvae with a weird ringed body, both white and semi-translucent. They also have rather large pincers attached to their head, but apparently they won't bite humans. They seem to run away (or whatever it is larvae do to move) when exposed to light, or when they sense a predator (me).
The "babies" look like tiny wiggling white larvae.
Any idea what these are? And more importantly, any idea what to do to stop them from infesting nice trees?! Locals seem to think one should chop down the part of the tree that's infected, but I'm sure it's possible to poison those little fuckers. Spotting an infected tree is easy (similar to termite infestation), but I don't know if there's a way to prevent infestation or stop one that's already in progress. They seriously look like mini aliens.
Side question: do termites only attack a dead/dying tree or will they also start eating away live trees? I always assumed they only ate dead wood, but I recently saw them in a tree that seemed sort of healthy (but on its last legs, I assumed because of the termites... Or maybe the termites sensed it was dying and moved in?)
Pardon the bad focus, but they're around 2-4cm long larvae with a weird ringed body, both white and semi-translucent. They also have rather large pincers attached to their head, but apparently they won't bite humans. They seem to run away (or whatever it is larvae do to move) when exposed to light, or when they sense a predator (me).
The "babies" look like tiny wiggling white larvae.
Any idea what these are? And more importantly, any idea what to do to stop them from infesting nice trees?! Locals seem to think one should chop down the part of the tree that's infected, but I'm sure it's possible to poison those little fuckers. Spotting an infected tree is easy (similar to termite infestation), but I don't know if there's a way to prevent infestation or stop one that's already in progress. They seriously look like mini aliens.
Side question: do termites only attack a dead/dying tree or will they also start eating away live trees? I always assumed they only ate dead wood, but I recently saw them in a tree that seemed sort of healthy (but on its last legs, I assumed because of the termites... Or maybe the termites sensed it was dying and moved in?)