Teak defoliator
Caterpillars that strip young teak leaves in sudden early-season outbreaks, the single most damaging insect pest of teak in India.
- Pest
- Caterpillar (Hyblaea puera)
- Feeds on
- Young, tender leaves early in the growing season
- Pattern
- Sudden, large early-season outbreaks
- Main risk
- Slowed growth, less flowering and seed production
Overview
The teak defoliator, Hyblaea puera, is a moth whose caterpillars feed on young, tender teak leaves early in the growing season. Outbreaks can be sudden and severe, with large numbers of caterpillars stripping a nursery, young plantation or natural forest patch bare within a matter of days.
Because it attacks the earliest, most active flush of leaves, repeated defoliation directly cuts a tree's annual height and girth growth, reduces flowering and lowers seed production — a real, measurable loss on a small farm plantation even though large natural forests generally absorb and recover from the same outbreaks over their much bigger area.
How to identify it
- Caterpillars feeding on the entire leaf, leaving only the major veins behind — heavier damage than the related teak skeletonizer.
- Outbreaks appear suddenly early in the growing season, often stripping a young plantation within days.
- Small brown-and-orange adult moths active at night around the same time.
What causes it and when
- The moth Hyblaea puera, active from the start of the growing season onward, with populations that can build to outbreak levels quickly.
- Young nursery stock and newly planted blocks are hit hardest since their entire leaf area is tender and exposed.
Organic and biological control
- Conserve natural egg parasitoids — mass-release biological control programmes using Trichogramma species have been used against this pest.
- Conserve predatory birds and avoid routine broad-spectrum spraying that would kill them.
- Hand-collect caterpillars from young trees where an outbreak is small and localised.
Chemical control
- A CIB&RC-registered contact insecticide spot-sprayed at the first sign of an outbreak, before caterpillars scatter and mature, is justified on high-value young plantations.
- Confirm the current registered product with your state forest department or nearest KVK.
- Most large outbreaks in natural and plantation forest are left to run their course and are followed by natural parasitoid control.
Crops most at risk
Where this problem is called out in our crop guides — open a crop for the full package of practices.
Frequently asked questions
My young teak block was stripped bare almost overnight. What happened?
This is the classic signature of a teak defoliator (Hyblaea puera) outbreak — large numbers of caterpillars feeding on the tender early-season flush can strip a young plantation within days. Most established trees recover and refoliate, but repeated outbreaks in the first few years measurably slow height and girth growth. Hand-collect caterpillars if the outbreak is small, conserve natural parasitoids and predatory birds, and consider a registered spot-spray on high-value young trees if the outbreak is severe.
Is the teak defoliator the same as the teak skeletonizer?
No, though the two are often discussed together. The defoliator (Hyblaea puera) eats the entire leaf early in the season and does the most damage; the skeletonizer (Eutectona machaeralis) eats only the green tissue between the veins, later in the season, on leaves that would soon drop naturally anyway — it causes less overall damage.
Symptoms and control measures follow ICAR, KVK and state agricultural-university package-of-practices; any named chemical is a registered use. Always read the product label and confirm the dose for your crop and zone. editorial policy.