Species Archips argyrospila - Fruit-Tree Leafroller Moth - Hodges#3648

3648

Apple Leaf Roller

Archips argyrospila (Walker, 1863)

Retinia argyrospila Walker, 1863 (1)

argyrospila - Latin for 'silver hair' (2)

Forewing length 7-12 mm. (3)

Adults - "FW cream and yellow, heavily mottled with reddish to blackish brown. 2 whitish costal spots are sharpest markings. HW dark gray." (4) Sexually dimorphic and geographically variable. Males dark brown to reddish brown with distictive white markings proceding and following a median transverse fascia which becomes diffuse toward the dorsal area. Hindwing gray with pale fringe. Females have blurred forewing pattern. Western populations vary to pale, golden tan form with white hindwing. Colorado populations A. a. vividanus tend to have bright reddish scaling, whereas those in the Pacific Northwest A. a. columbianus and California are darker with an olive cast. (3)

Larvae - bright green with black HC until the last instar, which has a dark gray dorsum caused by minute, black spirulae, and a browish head capsule. (3)

Widely distributed: CA-FL-NS-BC - Map (MPG)

Type locality: Georgia.

Mostly Apr-Aug (MPG), but only three weeks at any one location. (3)

Larva (Fruit Tree Leaf-roller) feeds on leaves of many plants including:

apple, pear, apricot, cherry, peach, plum, alfalfa, beans, blueberries, cedar, grapes, elms, oaks, onions. It may feed on leaves, flowers, buds, or fruits.

One generation a year. Eggs are laid in June and July and hatch the following year. They are laid in masses on twigs of host. The female covers them with a substance that hardens to create a smooth, hard surface.

Overwinter as eggs.(5)

Young larvae feeds on buds, blossoms, young fruit, and unfolding leaves which they web together with silk. When mature they for a nest with these webbed leaves. Pupation occurs in flimsy cocoons spun inside the nest or on the branches or trunk of the trees.(5)

Considered a pest of apples and pears, especially.

In the first half of the 20th century there were severe outbreaks. They were brought under control by pesticides in the mid-1950's.

Walker, F., 1863. List of the specimens of lepidopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. Part XXVIII – Tortricites and Tineites. British Museum (Natural History), p.373. (1)

Moth Photographers Group (MPG)

Forestry Images

E. H. Strickland Museum

LBAM ID