EUROPEAN CORN BORER

The 'European Corn Borer' (''Ostrinia nubilalis'') is a pest of maize, and is native to Europe although it is found in North America as well. Female corn borer moths lay clusters of eggs on corn leaves, usually on the underside of the leaf.
The egg masses, or clusters, are laid in an overlapping configuration and are whitish-yellow in color. As the larvae develop inside their eggs, the eggs become more and more transparent and the immature caterpillar's black head is eventually visible. The caterpillars hatch by chewing their way out of the eggs.
European corn borer caterpillars damage the ears of corn, as well as the stalks, chewing tunnels which cause the plants to fall over.
Biological control agents of corn borers include the hymenopteran parasitoid ''Trichogramma''.
Bt corn, a variety of transgenic maize, has had its genome modified to include a gene from the Bacillus thuringiensis and produce a toxin which affects the corn borer, and as critics have pointed out, beneficial predatory insects as well.^[1]

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1. Bt Crops and Their Impacts on Insects and Food Webs Florianne Koechlin, GENET News, A SEED, March 21, 1999