Species Cydia pomonella - Codling Moth - Hodges#3492

3492

Cydia pomonella (Linnaeus, 1758)

Phalaena Tinea pomonella Linnaeus, 1758

Specific epithet from Pomona, the Roman the goddess of fruit trees.

Forewing length 7.5-10 mm. (1)

Adults - brown with a bluish pattern consisting of parallel striae, and the ocellar patch is coppery brown with transverse bars edged by black (1)

Occurs everywhere apples are grown, even isolated trees in urban yards. (1)

April through November. (2)

Larvae feed on apples, pears, stone fruits and even walnuts. (1)

Winter is passed as prepupal larvae in tough cocoons affixed to tree bark or ground litter. Adults emerge in spring to oviposit on new leaves or very young fruit. Larvae enter the fruit to lodge in seed capsules, and at maturity tunnel out again, leaving conspicuous holes that rot. Two to four generations per year. (1)

Introduced to North America in colonial times and reaching the Pacific coast by 1872. One of the most notorious lepidopterans worldwide that will destroy 95% of apples in any given orchard if left unchecked. Likely native of Eurasia, introduced into Europe centuries before its discovery. (1)

Linnaeus, C., 1758. Systema Naturae, 10th ed. (270): 538. (3)

Moth Photographers Group (4)

The Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) (5)

Utah State University

Wikipedia