Insect trap PROCESSIONARYTRAPNEX® L

The processionary caterpillars produce two types of damage: the first, which affects the plants, causes the loss of needles, since the caterpillars feed from the end of winter to the middle of the spring of pine and cedar needles. On the other hand, the caterpillars are strongly allergenic, being able to produce severe allergic outbreaks in people and animals, both in forest areas and in parks and gardens. The PROCESSIONARYTRAPNEX® L trap is designed to capture caterpillars of pine processionary Thaumetopoea pityocampa, when they descend through the trunk of the trees where they have made nests. The aggregative and social behaviour of this species is used to capture the whole group of larvae when they go to the ground to bury and pupate. The trap consists of a black PET film of 150 x 25 cm and 0.3 mm in thickness, and of a polyurethane foam bar of rectangular section of 5 x 7 cm x 150 cm in length, crossed in its middle part by a corrugated tube that connects with a polyethylene bag with its lower half opaque. The black sheet is covered on its inner side by a film of contact glue (without solvents) to facilitate the assembly and to dissuade the processionary caterpillars from climbing up the sheet, forcing them to descend through the tube towards the bag, where they remain retained.