Gypsonoma dealbana

• Subfamily: Olethreutinae, Eucosmini
• Wingspan: 11-14 mm
• Flight period: Jun - Aug
• Spread: Common
• Host plants: Polyphagous

Information

Gypsonoma dealbana also called Common Cloaked Shoot is a moth of the Tortricidae family with a wingspan of 11-14 mm. In Europe we find it almost everywhere it is absent from Portugal, Slovenia, Croatia, and Ukraine. *
Its range extends to the Palaearctic eco-zone as far as China. *, ***
In Italy it is also present in Sardinia. *

Distinctive character of this species, the most variable of the Gypsonoma genus, is the white / cream spot on the front of the head .

The front wings of Gypsonoma dealbana have a creamy white background color, with very light brown or lead gray markings. The basal region is brownish in color, with gray shades, well separated from the discal region, which has the light color of the bottom.
Moderately defined median area, with slight brown / gray markings, one in particular more visible, triangular in shape in the postdiscal region along the inner margin.

The sub-marginal region has various brown and silvery metallic markings.
A well-defined brown ocello is present on the apex. The costa is of the coloring of the respective regions up to about half, from there to the apical spot they are present some brown streaks.
The margin is fringed, brown in color, up to about the inner corner, which instead is white.

Adults are visible in flight, after sunset, from July to August in one, sometimes two generations, in environments with the presence of wooded areas. It overwinters in the larva stage.
It lives inside a silk tube covered with excrement and plant residues, attached under the leaf and with a "window" to feed on.
It feeds in the months of September and October and subsequently, after the diapause, in April. Pupation usually takes place in June in a cocoon, silk tube or underground. ****

The larvae feed on various deciduous trees, among which we find the Salix (willow), Populus sp. (poplar), Crataegus, Quercus sp. (oak) and Corylus sp. (hazelnut). *****


* Lepidoptera mundi https://lepidoptera.eu/ - Fauna Europea https://fauna-eu.org/
** Bestimmungshilfe für die in Europa nachgewiesenen Schmetterlingsarten - http://lepiforum.de/
*** A.H. Zhang/H.H.Li 2005 Catalogue of Eucosmini from China - https://gdoremi.altervista.org/documents/Eucosmini_cina.pdf
**** (C. Darbyshire, S. Farrell e J. Langmaid.)
**** Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa - https://leps.it/