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AGRICULTURAL APPLICATION > Rose totrix moth
common name: Rose totrix moth
scientific name: Archips rosana (L.)
Cacoecia rosana, Choristoneura rosanaceana (Harris)
(Insecta: Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)
Below:
• Description
• Biology
• Life cycle
• Damage
DESCRIPTION
Adult (photo 13,4 Kb): 17 to 19 mm wingspan in the
male, 19 to 22 mm in the female. The head and the thorax are brown, the
abdomen brownish grey. The anterio wings are truncated at their top, light
brown with 3 slanted, badly delimited spots, particularly for the female. The
hind wings are brownish grey with an orangey apex and fringes.
Eggs: deposited on the bark in egg-rafts (diameter up to 7 mm)
bearing from 3 to over a hundred eggs, first greenish then brownish grey,
imbricate and coated with a translucent protective substance Larva: 18 to 22
mm, olive green but capable of varying depending on its food, from yellowish
to purple; shiny brown head and thoracic plate; brownish thoracic legs;
lightly coloured abdominal legs with dark brown crochets; sometimes a
medio-dorsal line of a slightly darker green; long silvery bristles which
protrude from small whitish warts are disseminated over the whole body.
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BIOLOGY
The caterpillars are found on Rosaceae,
especially apple and pear, more rarely peach, plum and quince, rose (Rosa);
they can also develop on forest trees: birch (Betula), maple (Acer),
plane (Platanus), poplar (Populus), oak (Quercus), lime
(Tilia), ash (Fraximus), elm (Ulmus), as well as bushes
and annual or perennial plants: currant, raspberry, hop, hazel, laurel (Larrus),
privet (Ligustrum), honeysuckle (Lonicera), myrtle (Myrtus),
lilac (Syringa vulgaris), quelder-rose (Viburnum), nettle (Urtica).
Adult (photo
13,4 Kb):
lifespan of 15 days. Average fecundity: 100 to 150 eggs.
Eggs: distributed in 2 to 9 egg-rafts and disposed preferentially on
the smooth surfaces of bark; they remain India pause until the next spring.
Larva: larval development lasts 28 to 55 days. The young
caterpillars penetrate buds and bind the young leaves together with silk.
Following this, they roll up the leaves making a sort of cigar and gnaw the
parenchyma leaving only the veins; the terminal buds are often most attacked.
When larvae penetrate the still closed bud, they incise the peduncle below
the calyx. During flowering, they gnaw the stamens and the pistil binding the
petals by silk threads; this mode of attack is particularly frequent on
apple.
Pupa: development lasts 15 to 20 days.
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LIFE CYCLE
1 generation per year.
Hatching takes place from the end of February to the beginning of May
depending on the temperature and the region; it finishes by the second
flowering of apple trees: It occurs at intervals over an extended period
following the exposition of the egg-rafts. Pupation occurs inside shrivelled
leaves. Flights are observed from end of May to end of July. Eggs remain in
diapauses until the next spring.
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DAMAGE
Damage is frequent on apple and pear. The
incisions on the bud peduncle lead to premature drop. Also, the fruits in
contact with leaves are nibbled quite deeply in May and June that results in
a local cessation of growth and in quite marked deformations.
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