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568
569
568
Common small ermine moth (
Yponomeuta padella
).
569
Larvae of common small ermine moth (
Yponomeuta
padella
).
570
Yponomeuta padella
(Linnaeaus) (
568-571
)
Common small ermine moth
Often abundant on hawthorn (
Crataegus
) and
Prunus
,
including blackthorn (
P. spinosa
) and wild cherry
(
P. avium
) but not bird-cherry (
P. padus
) (cf.
Yponomeuta
evonymella
), and sometimes injurious to hedges and
ornamentals. A locally distributed race attacks rowan
(
Sorbus aucuparia
) and is sometimes a pest of such trees
on alpine camp sites. Widely distributed in Europe.
DESCRIPTION
Adult:
20-22 mm wingspan; fore wings whitish to
whitish grey, with light grey cilia and four longitudinal
rows of black dots (including a row of 4-7 dots towards
the lower margin); hind wings grey.
Egg:
flat, yellowish
to dark reddish.
Larva:
up to 20 mm long; dirty
yellowish grey to greenish grey, marked with black
spots and a blackish dorsal stripe; head, prothoracic
plate and anal plate black.
Pupa:
10 mm long;
yellowish, with head, thorax, wing cases and tip
blackish; cremaster with six filaments.
570
Pupae of common small ermine moth (
Yponomeuta
padella
).
571
LIFE HISTORY
Adults occur in July and August, and commonly rest in
numbers on the original foodplant or on nearby hosts.
Eggs are laid in overlapping tile-like rows in flat, scale-
like batches on the bark of shoots and branches of host
plants. They are then coated with a gelatinous secretion
which soon hardens to form a protective cap. Eggs hatch
2-3 weeks later, the larvae biting their way through the
lower surface of the egg shells but leaving the upper
surface of the egg cluster intact. The young larvae
remain
in situ
throughout the winter; they are very
resistant to low temperatures, and survive without
apparent difficulty even in exposed mountainous
regions. Activity is resumed in the following May, the
571
Pupal cocoons of common small ermine moth
(
Yponomeuta padella
).
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