Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
They pupate to produce adults that emerge in
the autumn but then hibernate.
chaerophyllella
(above) by their darker dorsal
line, black head, black prothoracic plate and
black pinacula.
DESCRIPTION
Adult
12-13 mm wingspan;
forewings
brown to
blackish, marked with a pair of white spots
(usually separated by black scales), and with
two yellowish-brown and two black dorsal
patches of scales ('scale teeth')
(Plate lid) (Fig.
277). Larva
up to 10mm long;
body
pale yel-
lowish-white and transparent;
pinacula
large,
black and each bearing a short, black seta;
head,
prothoracic plate and anal plate
brown
(Fig.
278). Pupa
5-6mm long, light brown;
cremaster
dome-like and terminating in a spine.
Family COLEOPHORIDAE
(casebearer moths)
Coleophora spinella
(Schrank)
Apple & plum casebearer moth
This insect is a minor pest of fruit trees. The case-
bearing larvae form blotch mines in the leaves;
they also remove sections of leaf when construct-
ing their cases. However, damage caused is
rarely significant.
BIOLOGY
Adults fly in June and July, when eggs are laid
singly on the underside of leaves. Following egg
hatch, the larvae at first mine within the leaves.
Later, they feed externally but remain sheltered
within a fragment of leaf that forms a character-
istic case. Larvae overwinter within their cases
and complete their development in the spring.
Pupation takes place within the larval case, and
the adult moth emerges about 2 weeks later.
Epermenia aequidentellus
(Hofmann)
This relatively uncommon, locally distributed
species is associated mainly with carrot. The lar-
vae at first form brownish blotch mines in the
leaflets but, later, they feed externally. Damage
caused to cultivated plants is insignificant, al-
though foliage of individual plants, especially in
gardens and allotments, may be destroyed.
Adults occur from June to July and from Sep-
tember to October, and larvae from May to
June and from August to September. Larvae
are distinguished from those of
Epermenia
DESCRIPTION
Adult
10-12 mm wingspan;
forewings
dark
brownish-grey;
hindwings
dark grey.
Larva
up
to 5 mm long;
body
brown;
head, prothoracic
plate & anal plate
dark brown.
Case of young
larva:
brown and pistol-shaped
(Fig. 279a).
Case of older larva
5-6 mm long, light brown,
cylindrical and cigar-like
(Fig. 279b).
Fig. 277
Forewing of
Epermenia chaerophyllella
(xlO).
Fig. 279
Apple & plum casebearer,
Coleophora
spinella:
(a) case of young larva; (b) case of older
larva (x8).
Fig. 278
Larva of
Epermenia chaerophyllella
(x!2).
