Acta Scientiarum Polonorum
Silvarum Colendarum Ratio et Industria Lignaria

In the 20th century several events of mass emergence of the pine beauty moth (Panolis flammea Den. & Shiff.)
were recorded in Polish forests. The most dangerous of these events occurred in the years 1922–1924, affecting
the Puszcza Nadnotecka and the Bory Tucholskie forests. At the same time it was the greatest mass emergence
of this species in Europe, resulting in the need to clear approx. 100 thousand hectares of forest stands. In the
successive years of the 20th century the pine beauty was recorded with varying intensity, occasionally requiring
salvage operations to be performed over extensive areas of forests. Only in 1988 operations reducing the
population of this species were conducted in 178.6 thousand ha. This shows the huge importance of this insect
species. In order to precisely forecast threat to pine forests posed by the pine beauty it is necessary to have adequate
knowledge on preferences of this species and focus on identifying stands at the greatest risk of its mass
emergence. This paper presents results of an analysis of stand and habitat characteristics of the areas affected by
mass emergence of the pine beauty, where measures reducing the population of this species were necessary. The
characteristics of stands preferred by the pine beauty and thus promoting its mass emergence were identified.