The American white butterfly (ABB) (hyphantria cunea drury) is a dangerous quarantine pest, one of the most common in Europe, in particular, in Ukraine. The pest damages up to 700 species of woody, shrub and herbaceous plants, including fruit crops. By eating the foliage completely, the American white butterfly dramatically reduces the yield of trees or does not bear fruit at all in the current and next years, as a result of which it loses its protective properties and may die.

The losses that this insect causes to agriculture are very large. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, global pest losses are as high as a quarter of the world's potential crop yield.

According to research, the homeland of this pest is North America, and in Ukraine it was first discovered already in 1952 in Transcarpathia and from there it spread widely throughout Ukraine. By the way, ABB is distributed mainly with planting material, with fruits and berries, vehicles or containers.

This pest is also dangerous because it can feed on 636 species of fruit, forest and other types of crops and cause the destruction of the deciduous cover of the plant.

One of the main signs of damage to plantings by the American white butterfly is the presence of spider nests on them. The ABM caterpillars eat leaves and braid them with cobwebs, forming nests.

Insect pupae hibernate in hidden places: under the bark of trees, in cracks, in fallen leaves. They can withstand low temperatures down to -23 ° C. And in spring, when the temperature exceeds +18 ° С, butterflies fly out.

Protection measures:

1. Conducting quarantine examinations and examinations of regulated articles and objects.

2. Strict adherence to quarantine measures in areas free from the American white butterfly, in particular, the decontamination of planting material. And also, periodic inspection of gardens and the imposition of quarantine on farms where the pest is found.

3. Prohibition of export of regulated articles and items from quarantine zones without appropriate documents and quarantine certificates.

4. Timely identification and destruction of spider nests with American white butterfly caterpillars. Digging soil in near-trunk circles, cleaning trees from dead bark and collecting fallen leaves, followed by destruction along with caterpillars in autumn or early spring.

5. Use of insecticides.