Pine caterpillars are the main culprit that destroys forests (Damage of Pine Caterpillars)

The pine caterpillar belongs to the family Lepidoptera, and its larvae are covered with long hairs and specialize in feeding on pine leaves, hence the name. Pine caterpillars are the enemy of more than 10 species of pine trees in coniferous forests. There are pine caterpillars in my country from south to north. There are six main species of pine caterpillars, named after the pine trees they feed on, such as masson pine caterpillar, Yunnan pine caterpillar, tabulaeformis pine caterpillar, red pine caterpillar, larch pine caterpillar, etc. More than 20 provinces (autonomous regions) and cities, including Zhejiang, Shandong, Hebei, and Guangxi, have been seriously harmed by it. When a major outbreak occurs, it can turn green mountains and green forests into bare branches and stubs in a few days. It looks like fire from a distance, and it looks like fire when you look up close. The trees are full of insects, and the ground is covered with insect excrement. After the pine trees were damaged, their growth was impaired and they even withered and died.

According to a 1952 survey by the Hunan Lingling Forest Management Office, the area damaged by masson pine caterpillars in Lingling, Qidong and other five counties alone reached more than 2.53 million acres. In 1953, the natural larch forest in the west of Changbai Mountain in Liaodong suffered an area of more than 430,000 acres. Pine caterpillars not only severely damage forest resources, but also cause losses to the sideline production of rosin harvesting. Before the reform and opening up, people in forest areas often relied on rosin income in exchange for oil, salt, grain, and rice. At that time, forest farmers often frowned and sighed: "The pine caterpillars knocked off our oil cans, salt pots, and rice urns." Recently, the annual damage area is still 30 million to 40 million acres, and the loss of timber alone is about 5 million cubic meters.

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