Frass: Difference between revisions

[[File:Ectoedemia heckfordi larva.JPG|thumb|right|Frass in the Oakoak leaf mine of a final instar larva of the moth ''[[Ectoedemia heckfordi]]'']]

'''Frass''' is an informal term and accordingly it is variously used and variously defined. It is derived from the German ''Fraß'', a past participle verbal noun of ''fressen'', which means to gobble or to feed as an animal might.<ref name="OGGD">M. Clark and O. Thyen. The Oxford-Duden German Dictionary. Publisher: Oxford University Press 1999. ISBN 978-0198602484</ref> The English usage derives the idea of excrement from what larvae had eaten, and similarly also, the refuse left behind by insects. Such usage dates back to the mid nineteenth century.<ref name= "isbn0-19-861271-0">{{cite book |author=Brown, Lesley |title=The New shorter Oxford English dictionary on historical principles |publisher=Clarendon |location=Oxford [Eng.] |year=1993 |pages= |isbn=0-19-861271-0 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=}}</ref> In modern technical English sources differ on the precise definition, though there is little actual direct contradiction. One glossary from the early 20th century speaks of "...excrement; usually the excreted pellets of caterpillars."<ref name= "JBSmith">Smith, John. B. Explanation of terms used in entomology. Pub: Brooklyn Entomological Society 1906. May be downloaded from: [https://archive.org/details/explanationofter22748gut]</ref> In some contexts frass refers primarily to fine, masticated material, often powdery, that [[Herbivore|phytophagous]] insects pass as indigestible waste after they have processed plant tissues as well as their physiology would permit.<ref>Allaby (2004)</ref> Other common examples include the [[Feces|fecal]] material that insects such as the [[larva]]e of [[Codlingcodling moth]]s leave as they feed inside fruit, or that the likes of ''[[Terastia meticulosalis]]'' leave as they bore in the [[pith]] of [[Erythrina]] twigs, or the larvae of [[Longhorn beetle|Cerambycidae]] or [[Lyctus brunneus|powder post beetles]] leave inside or below their tunnels when boring in solid or rotting wood.