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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Twirler Moths and kin (Gelechioidea) » Twirler Moths (Gelechiidae) » Gelechiinae » Gnorimoschemini » Phthorimaea » Potato Moth - Hodges#2011 (Phthorimaea operculella)

Species Phthorimaea operculella - Potato Moth - Hodges#2011

Classification · Hodges Number · Other Common Names · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Life Cycle · Internet References

P. operculella damage on tobacco - Phthorimaea operculella

Tobacco(?) miner - Phthorimaea operculella

Show images of: caterpillars · adults · both

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)

Superfamily Gelechioidea (Twirler Moths and kin)

Family Gelechiidae (Twirler Moths)

Subfamily Gelechiinae

Tribe Gnorimoschemini

Genus Phthorimaea

Species operculella (Potato Moth - Hodges#2011)

Hodges Number

2011

Other Common Names

Potato Tuber Moth

Potato Tuberworm Moth

Potato Tuberworm (larva)

Potato Splitworm (larva)

Tobacco Splitworm (larva)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Gnorimoschema operculella

Bryotropha solanella

described in 1873 by url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philipp_Christoph_Zeller]Zeller[/url], who originally placed it in genus Gelechia

genus brought out of synonymy by Polvony in 1993 (see Butterflies and Moths of the World)

Explanation of Names

operculella is Latin for "little lid or cover"

Numbers

the only species in this genus in North America listed at All-Leps

Size

wingspan 10-12 mm

larva length 10-12 mm

Identification

Adult: forewing slender, brownish-gray with scattered dark markings, especially along inner margin near base and along outer margin; hindwing slender, gray with long hairlike scales along inner and outer margins

Larva: body pale pinkish-white; each abdominal segment with a few black dots and small number of bristles; head brownish-black

Range

cosmopolitan, it originated in Central or South America

Habitat

potato storehouses, fields of potato, tomato, or tobacco, weedy areas where foodplants grow

Season

adults fly from April to October outdoors, or any time of year indoors

Food

larvae feed on potato tubers, the stem, leaves, and green fruit of tomatoes, leaves of tobacco, and various weedy members of the tomato family (Solanaceae)

Life Cycle

up to six overlapping generations per year; overwinters as an egg, larva, or adult, often in potato seed storehouses

Internet References

comprehensive species account (National Institute of Agronomic Research, France)

pinned adult image and damage caused in Oregon and Idaho (Potato Association of America)

pinned adult and live larva images plus species account (David Astridge and Harry Fay, Govt. of Queensland, Australia)

live adult image (pherobase.com)

live larva image (Anne-Sophie Roy, European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization, courtesy insectimages.org)

pinned adult image and live adult image on hostplant both taken from this page (insectimages.org)

pinned adult image by Eric LaGasa & WSDA (Moth Photographers Group)

species account (wikipedia.org)

hostplants parasitoids, and distribution in Europe (Leaf and Stem Mines of Flies and other Insects, UK)

presence in North Carolina; list citing 46 pinned specimens in collection, including locally collected specimens (North Carolina State U.)

author, date, and original genus (nearctica.com)

Verhandlungen der Kaiserlich-Küniglichen Zoologisch-Botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien, v.23, p.262 Zeller's original description of the species (in German)

Contributed by Robin McLeod on 9 December, 2008 - 8:43am
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, Chuck Entz
Last updated 7 January, 2013 - 10:54am

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