Rice stalk borer

Adults are about 1 inch long with pale white fore and hind wings tinged on the edges with metallic gold scales. Front wings are peppered with small black dots. Flat, oval, cream-colored eggs are laid at night in clusters on the leaf surface. Larvae emerge and crawl down the leaf toward the plant stem. Larvae may feed for a short time on the inside of the leaf sheath before boring into the stem. Larvae are pale yellow-white with two pairs of stripes running the entire length of the body and have a black head capsule. Larvae move up and down the stem feeding before moving to the first joint above the waterline, chewing an exit hole in the stem and constructing a silken web in which to pupate. Pupae are about 1 inch long, brown and smoothly tapered. The pupal stage lasts 7 to 10 days. There are two to three generations per year in rice.