Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Family
INCURVARIIDAE
LIFE HISTORY
Adults occur in April and May, depositing eggs on the
leaves of host plants. Larvae commence feeding in June,
at first mining the leaves and forming small, circular
blotches. Later, they construct portable cases by cutting
out and spinning together oval pieces from each leaf
surface. The larvae then wander or fall away to feed on
dead leaves and other vegetable debris, completing their
development in the autumn. The cases are then attached
to upright surfaces, including fences, posts or tree
trunks. Larvae pupate in the winter and adult moths
emerge in the spring.
Small, metallic-looking, mainly day-flying moths with
well-developed antennae. The larvae commence
feeding as leaf miners but later become case-dwellers;
they have a single transverse band of crotchets on each
abdominal proleg.
Incurvaria pectinea
Haworth (
486
)
syn.
I. pectinella
(Fabricius);
I. zinckenii
(Zeller)
A minor pest of birch (
Betula
) and hazel (
Corylus
).
Widely distributed and locally common in central and
northern Europe; in mainland Europe, alder (
Alnus
),
dogwood (
Cornus
), hornbeam (
Carpinus betulus
),
maple (
Acer
) and rowan (
Sorbus aucuparia
) are also
attacked.
DAMAGE
Larval mines disfigure the foliage but are less
noticeable than the series of holes left by the case-
forming larvae. Damage caused in not significant.
DESCRIPTION
Adult:
12-16 mm wingspan; head yellow (male with
antennae strongly bipectinate); fore wings light
brownish bronze, each marked on the dorsal margin
with two whitish spots; hind wings greyish bronze.
Larva:
up to 7 mm long; whitish, with a brown head
and yellowish-grey thoracic plates.
Case:
8
×
5 mm;
oval and flattened.
486
486
Larval cases of
Incurvaria pectinea
on leaf of
Betula
.
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