''Blastodacna atra'', the apple pith 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 Elachistidae. It is known from most of Europe and it has been introduced to North America.

Description

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 11–13 mm. The head is white. Forewings are narrow, dark fuscous; a broad white dorsal streak, sprinkled with dark fuscous from base to tornus, with broad triangular indentation at 2/5, including a black scale-tuft; from apex of this streak a slender whitish fascia to costa before apex, emitting a branch posteriorly in middle and sometimes one anteriorly below it; a black scale-tuft in disc before this. Hindwings are grey. Adults are on wing from May to September in western Europe. The larvae

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

inside young shoots of apples (''

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) and can be found by looking for small heaps of

frass Frass refers loosely to the more or less solid excreta of insects, and to certain other related matter. Definition and etymology ''Frass'' is an informal term and accordingly it is variously used and variously defined. It is derived from the ...

. Occasionally there may be a small swelling and the young shoot may die off.

Distribution

The apple pith moth is found in most of Europe. It 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 there ...

in North America, where it has been recorded from

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

and

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

References

Blastodacna Gall-inducing insects Leaf miners Moths of Europe Moths of North America Moths described in 1828 Taxa named by Adrian Hardy Haworth {{Elachistidae-stub