Is Dendrolimus punctatus a beneficial insect or a pest? What does it eat? What if I get stung by a pine caterpillar?

When it comes to pine caterpillars, everyone's impression should be that the whole body is covered with poisonous hairs. The sight of its dense poisonous hairs makes people feel creepy and frightening. So is the pine caterpillar a beneficial insect or a pest? What does it eat? What if I get stung by a pine caterpillar?

Dendrolimus punctatus is a general name of the genus Dendrolimus of Lepidoptera. Also known as caterpillar, fire caterpillar, ancient known as pine silkworm, a total of more than 30 species, there are 27 species distributed in China, is the country with the richest species of pine caterpillar.

Is pine caterpillar a beneficial insect or a pest? What does it eat?

Pine caterpillars feed on the leaves of pine, cypress and fir trees. according to statistics, 1200 pine caterpillars can eat a big tree from larva to adult. it is an important forest pest of rural cypress, pine and other tree species. Up to now, Dendrolimus punctatus is still the main forest pest with large occurrence and wide range of damage.

There are many methods for farmers to control pine caterpillars, including biological control (Beauveria bassiana, Bacillus thuringiensis, cytoplasmic polyhedrosis virus, Trichogramma, etc.), insecticide control (1.2% nicotinine), chemical control and forest management techniques.

Natural enemies of pine caterpillars

There are more than 300 species of natural enemies of Dendrolimus punctatus in each stage. Among the parasitic insects, Trichogramma, Dendrolimus black egg wasp, flat-bellied wasp, Dendrolimus punctatus, parasitoid fly, Dendrolimus punctatus and Dendrolimus punctatus had the highest parasitic rate among parasitic insects. among predatory insects, Montenegro ants and double needle ants prey the most. The pathogenic microorganisms include Beauveria bassiana, cytoplasmic polyhedrosis virus and nuclear polyhedrosis virus. Among birds, large rhododendron, dark gray cuckoo, oriole, gray magpie, great tit and other prey are larger.

What are the symptoms of being stung by a pine caterpillar?

1. Local pain and itching after exposure to pine caterpillar toxin. Papules, macular papules or wind masses appear in about half an hour. Nodular erythema, blisters, subcutaneous nodules or subcutaneous hematoma can be seen from a few hours to a few days. At the same time, it can be accompanied by low fever, fatigue, headache, general discomfort, lack of energy and lack of appetite and other general discomfort symptoms.

2. Within 1-2 weeks of poisoning, the joint was involved, the joint was swollen and hard, acupuncture or knife-like pain, tenderness was obvious. Dysfunction. It often invades 1-2 small joints of the hands and feet, and the symptoms can be relieved spontaneously for more than one week. At the same time, there may be local lymph node enlargement, hand and foot single subcutaneous and muscle swelling and eminence, unclear boundary, tenderness, and softening in about 2-4 weeks, with grass-green mucus in it. Pseudomonas aeruginosa can be found in culture.

3. Some cases showed wandering or recurrent arthritis.

4. rare ear attack, the victim's ear thickening, pain, or even auricular chondroperiostitis.

5. After treatment, there were no joint deformities or other joint sequelae.

6. X-ray examination showed osteoporosis and insect-like bone destruction. Laboratory examination showed that erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) increased, blood calcium and alkaline phosphatase increased.

What if I get stung by a pine caterpillar?

1. Adhesive tape can be used repeatedly to paste the affected area to remove poisonous hairs.

2. 1% mint calamine lotion can be applied locally.

3. Anti-allergic drugs can control symptoms, such as oral diphenhydramine, promethazine, chlorphenamine, etc.; calcium gluconate can also be injected intravenously, but it is often repeated after drug withdrawal, so it needs to be used continuously for a long time.

4. Indomethacin, ibuprofen, prednisone and betamethasone are also effective in controlling arthritis damage, but they also need to be used for a long time, otherwise they are easy to be repeated.

5. Secondary bacterial infection can be prevented by antibiotics, but it is ineffective to the damage caused by toxins.

6. TCM syndrome differentiation and treatment are mainly based on heat-clearing and detoxification.