The box tree moth, Cydalima perspectalis, is an invasive insect native to East Asia. After it was first detected in Europe in 2006, it spread rapidly across most European countries as well as the Caucasus and Iran, causing severe damage to both ornamental and natural boxwood (Buxus spp.). Many affected areas experienced extensive defoliation and long-term decline of boxwood plantings and native boxwood forests. Management often required repeated applications of conventional insecticides or biological products such as Bacillus thuringiensis. Wild stands of Buxus sempervirens in several regions were heavily affected, raising ecological concerns.
The moth was first found in North America in 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, and later detected in 2021 in western New York. By late 2025, established infestations were known from at least ten U.S. states. Boxwood is widely used as an ornamental plant across the United States, Canada, and Europe. In Europe, it is also an important component of natural forests, which increases the economic and ecological significance of the pest. Although reports exist of feeding on Euonymus or Ilex species, extensive European experience and recent Canadian research indicate that damage and feeding are restricted exclusively to Buxus species.
This Euphresco project was initiated to support the development and evaluation of integrated pest management tools for Cydalima perspectalis to improve control strategies for the newly invaded regions of North America and in Europe. The overall goal of the project was to develop and assess methods for protecting boxwood in ornamental plantings, nurseries, and native stands, including tools that may be deployed on an area-wide basis to support eradication or containment campaigns and to safeguard high-value and at-risk landscapes. The project aimed to strengthen detection and monitoring methods; expand understanding of the pest’s biology, ecology, and behaviour; evaluate mating disruption; develop mass-rearing capabilities; assess classical and conservation biological control options; study microbial and chemical control treatments; develop tools and recommendations to address regulatory and phytosanitary issues; and examine the feasibility of the sterile insect technique as an additional control tool. Another important goal was to develop networking and collaborative research between European researchers who have more than a decade of experience with the pest, and those in North America, where the invasion is more recent.