''Archips podana'', the large fruit-tree tortrix, is a

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

of the family

Tortricidae The Tortricidae are a family of moths, commonly known as tortrix moths or leafroller moths, in the order Lepidoptera. This large family has over 11,000 species described, and is the sole member of the superfamily Tortricoidea, although the genu ...

. The species was first described by

Giovanni Antonio Scopoli Giovanni Antonio Scopoli (sometimes Latinisation of names, Latinized as Johannes Antonius Scopolius) (3 June 1723 – 8 May 1788) was an Italians, Italian physician and natural history, naturalist. His biographer Otto Guglia named him the "first ...

in his 1763 ''

Entomologia Carniolica ' is a Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic work by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, published in Vienna in 1763. As well as describing hundreds of new species, ' contained observations on the species' biology, including the first published account of queen bee ...

''. It is found in Europe, Asia from

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

to Japan and is an

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...

in North America.

Description

The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...

is 18–26 mm. The thorax is crested. The forewings have a sinuate vertical termen. The costal fold is short, basal and red-brownish or ochreous, in female strigulated with dark brown. In the male there is a dark red-brown dorsal spot near base, above which is a grey and whitish suffusion. The central fascia in males is dark red -brown, in females brownish or outlined only, anterior edge nearly straight. The costal patch, an apical terminal mark, and a stria (in male thickened) from tornus are all dark red-brown. The hindwings are grey, the apex broadly orange. The larva is green; dorsal line sometimes darker; head and plate of 2 brown or black: Julius von Kennel provides a full description. The moth flies in one generation from May to September in western Europe. Flies in the late afternoon and comes to

light Light, visible light, or visible radiation is electromagnetic radiation that can be visual perception, perceived by the human eye. Visible light spans the visible spectrum and is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400– ...

. Eggs are laid in several batches of 50 to 100 on the upper surface of a leaf and are covered in a wax-like substance, which closely matches the colour of the leaf. The eggs difficult to find and hatch in 17–23 days. Larvae can be found from July to early May and are

polyphagous Feeding is the process by which organisms, typically animals, obtain food. Terminology often uses either the suffixes -vore, -vory, or -vorous from Latin ''vorare'', meaning "to devour", or -phage, -phagy, or -phagous from Greek φαγε ...

, feeding on trees and shrubs, such as

apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

(''Malus'' species),

pear Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in late summer into mid-autumn. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the Family (biology), family Rosaceae, bearing the Pome, po ...

(''Pyrus'' species),

cherry A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet '' Prunus avium'' and the sour '' Prunus cerasus''. The na ...

(''Prunus'' species),

plum A plum is a fruit of some species in Prunus subg. Prunus, ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus'.'' Dried plums are often called prunes, though in the United States they may be labeled as 'dried plums', especially during the 21st century. Plums are ...

(''Prunus'' species) and sometimes conifers ( Coniferae). Larvae feed on both surfaces of the leaf for a few days, before dispersing, when they spin a fine web and feed on the underside of a leaf. On first

ecdysis Ecdysis is the moulting of the cuticle in many invertebrates of the clade Ecdysozoa. Since the cuticle of these animals typically forms a largely inelastic exoskeleton, it is shed during growth and a new, larger covering is formed. The remnant ...

, the larvae feed on the skin of the fruit, spinning a leaf for shelter. They continue to feed until the fruit is picked, or falls to the ground, and overwinter in a silken hibernaculum on a twig. In the spring, as a fourth instar, they feed on the opening buds, often boring into them, and later between two or more spun leaves. They pupate in the larval habitation.

References

External links

''Lepiforum e.V.''

For a list of food plants see Plant Parasites of Europe
{{Taxonbar, from=Q136322 Archips Moths described in 1763 Moths of Asia Tortricidae of Europe Moths of North America Taxa named by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli