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Synanthedon Acerni
This is the common "Maple-borer." The larvae." tunnel in the sap-wood and do a great deal of damage to trees, especially in our larger cities. At times trees are completely girdled by the galleries made by the insects, and are thus killed; at other times they are so weakened that on the occasion of high winds or storms they are broken off and greatly disfigured. The insects emerge from the pupae early in the morning, and may be seen at times in small swarms about the trunks of the trees, ovipositing upon the bark. The time of emergence is the latter part of May and the beginning of June. The pupae are formed in small cocoons composed of silk and pellets of excrement interwoven upon the surface. Just before the moths emerge, the chrysalids work their way partially out of the tunnels in which they are, and then the outer sheathing of the pupa splits open and the perfect insect crawls forth, in a few moments to be upon the wing; for the development of the power of flight is with this species, as with almost all the AEgeriidae, exceedingly rapid.
The moth is found from New England as far west as Nebraska.