Formerly chestnut moth
| Formerly chestnut moth | ||||||||||||
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Formerly chestnut moth ( Pammene fasciana ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Pammene fasciana | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1761) |
The early chestnut moth ( Pammene fasciana ) is a butterfly native to Europe and Asia. It can cause economically significant damage to sweet chestnuts ( Castanea sativa ).
features
The adult butterflies have a wingspan of 14 to 15 mm. The forewings have a whitish spot in the middle. There are three smaller black spots on its outer part. This is followed by two shiny, lead-gray bands. Between these bands is a brown area with four black lines. There are black, line-shaped notches on the front edge of the wings. The hind wings are gray-brown.
The last, fifth instar, larvae are 10 to 13 mm long. Their body is whitish, the head sometimes pinkish-brown. The prothoracic shield and anal plate are light brown. The larva has large hairy, dark red warts and an anal crest.
distribution
The early chestnut moth is native to Europe and Asia.
Way of life
The moths appear at the beginning of summer and fly at dusk. The females lay a total of around 180 eggs on the upper side of leaves. Chestnuts ( Castanea ), beeches ( Fagus ) and oaks ( Quercus ) serve as host plants . The caterpillars hatch at a temperature of 15 ° C after 21 days. The young caterpillar initially eats the leaf veins . A little later it eats its way through the fruit shell (cupula) and into the young fruit, which it destroys by eating. She removes her excretions from the cupula, they are located between the spines and are connected by silky threads. A caterpillar can attack several fruits one after the other. After about 40 days, it leaves the cupula and looks for a place under the bark of the host tree. Here she weaves herself into a cocoon in which she goes through the diapause. The cupula falls off early in July / August.
Importance as a pest
Due to the early appearance of the larvae and the infestation of several fruits per larva, the economic damage in sweet chestnut stands can be considerable. The early chestnut moth has only a subordinate importance in forests.
It can be combated with light, fruit juice or pheromone traps . Chemical control is also possible, but the chemicals used for this purpose are not permitted in many countries.
swell
- Species description on the INRA website
- Marco Conedera, Mauro Jermini, Alberto Sassella, Thomas N. Sieber: Harvesting, treating and preserving chestnuts . Leaflet for practice 38, 2004. WSL Birmensdorf, ISSN 1422-2876 (PDF 570kB)
- Ecker et al. a .: Sweet chestnut. Forest tree and fruit trees . Zoppelberg Buchverlag, Ehrenhausen 2006, p. 62f. (without ISBN)
Web links
- Photo Gallery on lepiforum.de