Crocidosema plebejana

Zeller, 1847

  • Subfamily: Olethreutinae, Eucosmini
  • Wingspan: 11-17 mm
  • Flight period: Jul - Oct
  • Spread: Common
  • Host plants: Polyphagous

Information

The Crocidosema plebejana is a moth of the Tortricidae family with a wingspan of 12-16 mm. Present in Europe in the United Kingdom, France, Denmark, Germany, Cyprus, Spain including the Balkan Peninsula. *
Its range extends to Egypt, Morocco, Sudan; Asia Minor, Ukraine, Caucasus, Turkmenistan; Iran, India, Thailand, Taiwan, Japan. In North America in Texas and California; South America: Peru, Ecuador, Galapagos; Australia.
In Italy it is also present in the islands. *

This great diffusion is probably the result of involuntary introductions by man, for example in the British Isles it had not been recorded before 1900. ***

The front wings of the Crocidosema plebejana range from cream to white tinged with ocher, faintly streaked, with slightly grayish markings. The median band is not defined, it has a dark triangular marking that goes from the median band to the preapical zone. A brown / black spot is clearly visible in the anal area that affects the basal and disc regions.

The costa is streaked in gray and ocher from the median strip to the apex, an apical blackish spot is visible; the ocellar area is white, suffused with gray and bordered with silver, containing two or three black dots or dashes. The intensity of the background color and the markings can vary greatly, the rear wing is gray. ***

There is no evident sexual dimorphism. Bivoltine species, adults fly from July to August and in October. The larvae are found from June to September or October, they feed in the seed pods and occasionally in the buds of the host plant.
The larva moves from one capsule to another, making a hole through the side of the fresh capsule; the presence of two holes usually indicates that the larva has already left the capsule. The pupation takes place in a fragile silk cocoon, fine spun, in the leaf litter. *****

The larva is about 10-11 mm long with the head having a variable color from yellowish to blackish brown. Prothoracic plate dark brown yellow; abdomen ranging from yellowish brown to dark reddish brown. **
The pupa is pale brown, yellowish. **

The larvae feed on many plants including: Cucurbita pepo, Abelmoschus esculentus (okra), Abutilon avicennae, Abutilon indicum, Althaea rosea (hollyhock) Anoda cristata, Gossypium sp. (Cotton), Hibiscus esculentus (okra), Hibiscus militaris, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis (China pink hibiscus), Kosteletzkya althaeifolia, Lavatera arborea (malvone major), Malva parviflora, Malvastrum sp., Malvaviscus sp., Sida rhombifolia, Sida cordifolia, Eucalyptus sp. (Eucalyptus), Crataegus sp. (Hawthorn), Salix Safsaf, Turnera ulmifolia, Foeniculum pifieratum, Zea mays (corn). ******, ********


* Lepidoptera mundi https://lepidoptera.eu/ - Fauna Europea https://fauna-eu.org/
** Bestimmungshilfe für die in Europa nachgewiesenen Schmetterlingsarten - http://lepiforum.de/
*** Baixeras, J.; Brown, J.W. & Gilligan, T.M. (2010): Online World Catalogue of the Tortricidae – Crocidosema species list. Version 2.0. Retrieved 15 October 2011
**** http://eurasian-tortricidae.linnaeus.naturalis.nl /linnaeus_ng/app/ views/species/taxon .php?id=115718&epi=164
***** (Bradley et al., 1979)
****** Diakonoff, A. (1982). "On a Collection of Some Families of Micro-Lepidoptera from Sri Lanka (Ceylon)"
******* Clarke (1986), Pitkin & Jenkins (2004b), Baixeras et al. (2010)

Crocidosema plebejana
Crocidosema plebejana
Crocidosema plebejana
Crocidosema plebejana
Crocidosema plebejana
Crocidosema plebejana
Crocidosema plebejana
Crocidosema plebejana
Crocidosema plebejana
Crocidosema plebejana
Crocidosema plebejana
Crocidosema plebejana