''Argyresthia conjugella'', the apple fruit moth, is a

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

of the family Yponomeutidae. It is found in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

, Central

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The

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

is 10–14 mm. The head is yellowish-white. Forewings are rather dark purplish-fuscous; costa strigulated with whitish; a thick white dorsal streak to tornus; an interrupted dark fuscous median fascia; one or two white costal spots before apex. Hindwings are grey. The larva is dull whitish yellow; head and plate of 2 pale brown.Meyrick, E., 1895 ''A Handbook of British Lepidoptera'' MacMillan, Londo
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Keys and description Adults are on wing from May to July depending on the location. The larvae feed on ''

Sorbus aucuparia ''Sorbus aucuparia'', commonly called rowan (UK: /ˈrəʊən/, US: /ˈroʊən/) and mountain-ash, is a species of deciduous tree or shrub in the rose family. It is a highly variable species, and botanists have used different Circumscription (taxo ...

'' and ''

Malus ''Malus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 30–55 species of small deciduous trees or shrubs in the family Rosaceae, including the domesticated orchard apple, crab apples, wild apples, and rainberries. The genus is native to the temperate zone of th ...

'' species. The Argyresyhia conjugella, or the apple fruit moth, is seen to be a parasite for the apple growing communities in Finland, Norway, and Sweden. These moths are seed predators for the mountain-ash trees rowan (Elameen et al.). However, when there is a dip in the fruit produced by rowan every couple years in this region, the apple fruit moth finds a new host in the form of apples. Apples are not their desired host however and they communicate with the rowan seeds they prefer through odors (Knudsen et al.).

References

Elameen, A; Eiken, HG; Floystad, I; Knudsen, G; Hagen, SB. 2018. Monitoring of the Apple Fruit Moth: Detection of Genetic Variation and Structure Applying a Novel Multiplex Set of 19 STR Markers 22 Knudsen, GK; Bengtsson, M; Kobro, S; Jaastad, G; Hofsvang, T; Witzgall, P. 2008. Discrepancy in laboratory and field attraction of apple fruit moth Argyresthia conjugella to host plant volatiles. 33:1-6.

External links

UKmoths
Moths described in 1839 Argyresthia Moths of Asia Moths of Europe Moths of North America {{Yponomeutidae-stub