Cnephasia Curtis
Type species: logiana Haworth = pasiuana Hübner
DIAGNOSIS
External characters:
Venation:
venation C. incertana ; venation C. pasiuana
Forewing: All veins are separate.
Hindwing: R-M 1 connate or (exceptionally) stalked; M 3-CuA 1 connate.
Forewing shape and markings:
examples of Cnephasia spp.
Forewing usually rather long; termen oblique; apex rounded. The forewing ground colour is white or grey to brownish. Markings usually consist of irregular fasciae.
Additional characters:
erect spatulate scales (arrows indicate the erect large scales on the forewing; large arrows indicate the double row in the centre of the forewing, small arrows indicate additional groups along other fasciae).
A dimorphism of 'normal' scales and enlarged, rounded, always blackish, slightly erect, clustered in small, interrupted batches along the edges of the forewing fasciae in two rows with additional tufts basally and distally at the other fasciae occurs in both sexes of all species of the genus Cnephasia.
Genitalia:
Male:
Uncus usually long, minutely spined; socii small; gnathos terminating in a plate; vinculum somewhat broadening subventrally. Valva slender, with long costa; sacculus often with densely spined free termination.
Female:
Papilla analis floricomous in most species (rarely narrow, telescopic); sterigma variable; antrum often present, broader than ductus bursae, in many species with internal sclerite; ductus seminalis usually ventro-anterior; signum species-specific, rarely absent.
Taxonomic note:
The genus is divided into two subgenera based on the hind wing venation.
1. Cnephasia s. str.
type species: pasiuana Hübner
Venation: R-M 1 connate in hindwing
male genitalia C. pasiuana
female gen. C. pasiuana
Male genitalia: Uncus minutely spined, with basal lobes; terminal plate of gnathos often expanding posteriorly; socii moderate or small. Valva long, with well-developed costa; sacculus provided with spined termination or represented only by stronger sclerotization of ventral edge of valva.
Female genitalia: In one species ovipositor telescopic; in the remaining species floricomous. Signa atrophying in several species.
2. Cnephasiella Adamczewski
type species: incertana Treitschke
Venation: R-M 1 stalked in hindwing.
male genitalia C. incertana
female genitalia C. incertana
Male genitalia: Uncus without spines; terminal part of gnathos broad, minutely spined.
Female genitalia: Ovipositor telescopic; distal half of ductus bursae with weak sclerite.
Early stages:
Swatschek, 1958, provides the following diagnosis for the larvae based on chaetotaxy of 2 well determined species.
The third stemma is clearly bigger than the others. The sutura coronalis significantly longer than width of adfrontals at tip of clypeus. Setae D1 and SD1 on a shared pinaculum on the ninth abdominal segment; L3 seta absent on this segment. Setae L1 and L2 of about equal length on the abdominal segments; on the first abdominal segment these setae are situated in a vertical line.
Biology:
In Europe, there is only one generation yearly. Hibernation occurs in the larval stage; larvae are polyphagous.
Distribution:
The majority of the species are known from the western part of the Palaearctic Region; one species is known from the far-east of the Palaearctic Region. Two species are Oriental in distribution and 2 species were introduced into the Nearctic Region.