''Dioryctria amatella'', the southern pineconeworm moth, is a species of
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
Pyralidae. It is found in the south-eastern United States, from
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
south to
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
and west into
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
.
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 27–32 mm. The forewings are dark gray to brown to nearly black and are boldly patterned with multiple contrasting white patches and zig-zag crossbands. The hindwings are light gray to tan. There are one to four generations per year, with adults on wing from early April to early November.
The larvae feed on ''
Pinus'' species. They feed on the buds, male and female flowers, shoots, branches, stems and first- and second-year cones. The feeding causes large external masses of
pitch. The species overwinters as an early
instar
An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'', "form", "likeness") is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each moult (''ecdysis''), until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or ass ...
larvae at the base of
persistent cones, under bud scales or in fusiform galls on branches and stems.
Gallery
Image:Dioryctria_amatella_larva.jpg, Larva
Image:Dioryctria amatella larva1.jpg, Larva
Image:Dioryctria amatella damage.jpg, Damage
Image:Dioryctria amatella damage1.jpg, Damage
Image:Dioryctria amatella P1120460a.jpg, Adult
Image:Dioryctria amatella P1120443a.jpg, Adult
References
Moths described in 1887
amatella
{{Dioryctria-stub