sugarcane borer

noun

1. the larva of the pyralid moth, Diatraea saccharalis, a serious pest of sugarcane, corn, rice, and sorghums.

Word History and Origins

Origin of sugarcane borer¹

An Americanism dating back to 1890–95

Example Sentences

When a wholesale application of heptachlor was made to the farmlands in Louisiana in 1957, the result was the unleashing of one of the worst enemies of the sugarcane crop — the sugarcane borer.

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The corn borer and the sugarcane borer are also being tested.

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Once hatched and grown, the insects inject their own eggs into those of the sugarcane borer - a moth that in its caterpillar stage eats valuable plants - preventing the pest from hatching.

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