Orthotaenia undulana

• Subfamily: Olethreutinae, Olethreutini
• Wingspan: 15-20 mm
• Flight period: May - Aug
• Spread: Uncommon
• Host plants: Polyphagous

Information

Orthotaenia undulana is a moth of the Tortricidae family with a wingspan of 15-20 mm. It is distributed throughout Europe, with the exception of Portugal, Croatia, Greece and Ukraine. *
Its range extends to Eastern Russia and North America. *
In Italy it is also present in the islands. *

The front wings of Orthotaenia undulana have a white / ocher background color with various silvery-gray, gray-yellow and brown-black signatures, with a well-defined clear median band. The inner edge is slightly concave, the outer edge strongly convex. **
The rear wing is gray, fringed, with a pronounced anal fold, and protruding beyond the edge of the wing. Sometimes the background color can vary; much rarer are the cases of variants of the markings. **

It can be confused with the related species Celypha flavipalpana , but the latter has a more intense color tending to reddish hazelnut.
Common species in central Europe, it is much less common in more southern latitudes. ***

Bivoltine moth, has flickers in the months between May and August with the first generation larvae visible in May.
In Poland, there is only one generation per year, with the larvae occurring in the period from April to June.
Sexual dimorphism is not evident.

The larvae of Orthotaenia undulana are gray / brown in color, with flat prothorax and anal area, they cause disfigurement and slight damage to the foliage but infestations are not important.
The pupa is elongated with a color ranging from ocher to brown. **

The species on a considerable variety of plants, both herbaceous and tall stems, include: Lonicera, Vaccinium (Blueberry), Myrica, Betula (Birch), Alnus (Alder), Salix (Willow), Acer (Maple), Quercus sp. (Oak), Ulmus (Elm), Urtica (Nettle), Pinus sp. (Pine tree), Juniperus (Juniper), Ribes, Rubus sp. (bramble) (Including raspberries, Rubusidaeus), Fragaria (strawberry), Hippophae rhamnoides, Lycopus europaeus , Teucrium scorodonia, Epilobium and many others, in North America it has also been recorded on the apple tree.


* Lepidoptera mundi https://lepidoptera.eu/ - Fauna Europea https://fauna-eu.org/
** Bestimmungshilfe für die in Europa nachgewiesenen Schmetterlingsarten - http://lepiforum.de/
*** https://www.inaturalist.org/