Biology:Blastodacna atra

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Short description: Species of moth

Blastodacna atra
Blastodacna atra.jpg
Scientific classification edit
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Elachistidae
Genus: Blastodacna
Species:
B. atra
Binomial name
Blastodacna atra
(Haworth, 1828)[1]
Synonyms
  • Recurvaria atra Haworth, 1828
  • Elachista putripennella Zeller 1839

Blastodacna atra, the apple pith moth, is a moth of the family Elachistidae. It is known from most of Europe and it has been introduced to North America.

Description

The wingspan is 11–13 mm. The head is white. Forewings are narrow, dark fuscous; a broad white dorsal streak, sprinkled with dark fuscous from base to tornus, with broad triangular indentation at 2/5, including a black scale-tuft; from apex of this streak a slender whitish fascia to costa before apex, emitting a branch posteriorly in middle and sometimes one anteriorly below it; a black scale-tuft in disc before this. Hindwings are grey. [2]

Adults are on wing from May to September in western Europe.[3]

The larvae mine inside young shoots of apples (Malus species) and can be found by looking for small heaps of frass. Occasionally there may be a small swelling and the young shoot may die off.[4]

Distribution

The apple pith moth is found in most of Europe. It is an introduced species in North America, where it has been recorded from Massachusetts and Ontario.

References

Wikidata ☰ Q1557115 entry