35 insect pests in Laisha's encyclopedia, A to Z.

• Asian citrus psyllidDiaphorina citriInsect · A small mottled-brown bug that feeds on the new shoots of citrus. On its own it does modest harm, but it…
• Asian rice gall midgeOrseolia oryzaeInsect · The rice gall midge is a tiny fly whose maggot crawls into the growing point of a rice tiller and turns it…
• Bird cherry-oat aphidRhopalosiphum padiInsect · A dark olive-green aphid of wheat, barley, oats, maize and grasses, recognised by a rusty-red patch around…
• Brown planthopperNilaparvata lugensInsect · A small brown sap-sucking insect that lives at the base of rice plants, often unseen until patches of the…
• Cassava mealybugPhenacoccus manihotiInsect · A small, waxy, pinkish insect that sucks sap from the growing tips of cassava, making them bunch up into…
• Codling mothCydia pomonellaInsect · The moth behind the proverbial 'worm in the apple'. Its caterpillars tunnel into apples, pears, quinces and…
• Coffee berry borerHypothenemus hampeiInsect · A black beetle smaller than a sesame seed that drills into coffee berries and raises its young inside the…
• Colorado potato beetleLeptinotarsa decemlineataInsect · A striped yellow-and-black beetle whose humpbacked red larvae can strip potato fields of leaves in a few…
• Cotton aphid (melon aphid)Aphis gossypiiInsect · A small aphid, from pale yellow to almost black, that forms dense colonies under the leaves of cotton,…
• Cotton bollworm (Old World bollworm)Helicoverpa armigeraInsect · A moth whose caterpillars bore into the fruiting parts of cotton, chickpea, pigeon pea, tomato, maize and…
• Desert locustSchistocerca gregariaInsect · A large grasshopper that normally lives alone in the deserts between West Africa and India, but after good…
• Diamondback mothPlutella xylostellaInsect · The most destructive insect of cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, mustard and other brassicas worldwide. Its…
• Eggplant fruit and shoot borer (brinjal borer)Leucinodes orbonalisInsect · The most destructive pest of eggplant (brinjal) in South and Southeast Asia. Its pink caterpillars bore into…
• Fall armywormSpodoptera frugiperdaInsect · Fall armyworm is a moth whose caterpillars eat into the funnel of young maize and other grasses, leaving…
• Green peach aphidMyzus persicaeInsect · A small, soft-bodied aphid found on hundreds of crops worldwide. Colonies curl leaves and leave sticky…
• Maize weevilSitophilus zeamaisInsect · A small brown weevil with a long snout whose larvae grow hidden inside individual grains of stored maize,…
• Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly)Ceratitis capitataInsect · A small, brightly patterned fly whose maggots develop inside citrus, stone fruit, figs, coffee berries and…
• Melon flyZeugodacus cucurbitaeInsect · A fruit fly whose maggots rot the young fruit of bitter gourd, cucumber, melon, pumpkin and other cucurbits.…
• Onion thripsThrips tabaciInsect · A tiny thrips that rasps the surface of onion, garlic and leek leaves, leaving silvery streaks that reduce…
• Oriental fruit flyBactrocera dorsalisInsect · A fruit fly whose females lay eggs under the skin of ripening mango, guava, papaya, citrus and hundreds of…
• Papaya mealybugParacoccus marginatusInsect · A small yellow mealybug covered in white wax that forms dense colonies on papaya, cassava, hibiscus, mulberry…
• Pink bollwormPectinophora gossypiellaInsect · A small moth whose pink-banded caterpillars live hidden inside cotton bolls, eating the seeds and staining…
• Pink hibiscus mealybugMaconellicoccus hirsutusInsect · A pink mealybug under a white waxy coat whose saliva is toxic to plants: new shoots twist and bunch, leaves…
• Red palm weevilRhynchophorus ferrugineusInsect · A large reddish weevil whose fat white grubs tunnel unseen through the trunk and crown of palms until the…
• Rice leaf folderCnaphalocrocis medinalisInsect · The rice leaf folder's caterpillar rolls a rice leaf lengthwise into a tube with silk and feeds inside,…
• Serpentine leafminer (Liriomyza leafminers)Liriomyza trifoliiInsect · Leafminers are tiny black-and-yellow flies whose maggots tunnel inside leaves, leaving pale, winding trails.…
• Silverleaf whitefly (Bemisia whitefly)Bemisia tabaciInsect · A tiny white sap-sucking insect that sits on the undersides of leaves of cotton, vegetables, cassava and…
• Spotted stem borerChilo partellusInsect · A moth whose caterpillars feed first in the whorl of young maize and sorghum, leaving rows of small holes in…
• Spotted wing drosophilaDrosophila suzukiiInsect · A small vinegar fly that, unlike its relatives, lays eggs in sound, ripening fruit rather than rotting fruit,…
• Tobacco cutworm (Asian armyworm)Spodoptera lituraInsect · A moth whose caterpillars hatch in clusters, skeletonise leaves together and then spread out to devour…
• Tomato leaf miner (Tuta absoluta)Phthorimaea absolutaInsect · A tiny moth whose caterpillars tunnel inside tomato leaves, stems and fruit. Within a few generations a crop…
• Western flower thripsFrankliniella occidentalisInsect · A thrips barely visible to the eye that lives in flowers and young leaves of vegetables, fruit and…
• White grubs (root-feeding chafer larvae)Holotrichia consanguineaInsect · White grubs are the fat, C-shaped, cream-coloured larvae of chafer beetles that live in the soil and eat…
• Whitebacked planthopperSogatella furciferaInsect · A small planthopper with a white stripe down its back that sucks sap from rice plants. It migrates long…
• Yellow stem borer (rice)Scirpophaga incertulasInsect · The most important stem borer of rice in South and Southeast Asia. Its caterpillars tunnel inside rice stems:…