Author: (Duponchel, 1843)
Rose-hip tortricid
Briar moth
Species Overview:
Adult: 10-14 mm wingspan; forewing purplish fuscous except for cream coloured interspaces between brown costal strigulae; ocellus obscure, with irregular black spots; hindwing fuscous. Distinguished from Grapholita funebrana by the greyish white labial palpi and irons and the comparatively uniform purplish fuscous general colouration of the forewing.
Egg: deposited singly at the base of a calyx of the food plant [G. tenebrosana egg].
Larva: head light brown, epistomal region, region of stemmata and postero-lateral margin blackish; prothoracic plate yellowish brown marked posteriorly with darker brown; abdomen shining, pale yellow strongly tinged with red dorsally, becoming yellowish white ventrally; pinacula yellowish, inconspicuous; peritreme of spiracles black; anal plate, comb and thoracic legs yellowish brown [G. tenebrosana larva ].
Pupa: in a silken cocoon in beneath plant remains or fallen leaves, in the soil or under bark.
Taxonomic Description:
Male:
G. tenebrosana adult 1
G. tenebrosana adult 2
G. tenebrosana adult 3
External characters: 10-14 mm wingspan. Labial palpus and frons greyish white. Forewing ground colour cream-white, overlaid with dark purplish fuscous except indistinct interspaces between obscure blackish brown costal strigulae, some of the interspaces producing bluish plumbeous striae, distal area often weakly irrorate (tips of scales) with greyish white; ocellus obscure, comprising a transverse series of usually four irregular black spots, edged laterally with indistinct bluish plumbeous striae; a sprinkling of black scales or dots above ocellus extending obliquely basally towards costa; cilia dark grey, with a blackish sub-basal line indented subapically. Hindwing fuscous, lighter basally; cilia grey, apices whitish, with a fuscous sub-basal line (Bradley et al., 1979).
male gen. G. tenebrosana
Genitalia: Ventral margin of valva before cucullus with large pointed dent. Cucullus short, broad. Ventral margin of sacculus nearly straight.
Female:
External characters: Similar to male.
female gen. G. tenebrosana
Genitalia: Sterigma forming ring around ostium, with flat triangular processes laterally; this ring encircling ostium sclerotized only towards front and on sides, its fused part broadening and slightly sclerotized. Ductus bursae with semi-square sclerite; corpus bursae with two large signa.
Variation:
Individual variation occurs in the depth and intensity of the purplish hue of the forewing and the clarity of the cream-white interspaces along the apical half of the costa (Bradley et al., 1979).
Biology:
Moths fly in May and June (France), from mid June till late July (UK, Poland) or from the end of June till late July (Lithuania). Eggs are deposited singly at the base of a calyx of the food plant. On hatching the larva bores into the hip and tunnels near the surface, these tunnels appearing as brownish stripes; the point of entry is easily recognized as a blackish brown spot with a small central hole. As it develops the larva destroys extensive patches of the pulp and the surface becomes wrinkled, often turning dark purple, and frass may be forced out through the hole in the side of the hip. The nearly full-fed larva very often tunnels finally at the base of the hip just above the stem, causing separation of the seeds from the pericarp. When fully fed in the autumn the larva leaves the hip, descending on threads and entering the soil. It constructs a cocoon in which it overwinters and pupates the following spring (Bradley et al., 1979; Bovey, 1966; Razowski, 1991a; Slauta, 1977).
Host plants:
Rosa spp., especially Rosa canina, and also occasionally cultivated roses.
Damage:
bore-hole in rose hip
Larvae attack the hips of Rosa canina, which are used for the manufacture of conserves. Larvae bore into the hip and tunnel near the surface, these tunnels appearing as brownish stripes; the point of entry is easily recognized as a blackish brown spot with a small central hole. The surface becomes wrinkled after patches of pulp are destroyed. Frass may be forced out through the hole in the side of the hip. In Lithuania infestation reached 10-15 % during outbreaks.
Effective control measures include annual cultivation of the soil between the rows before flowering and carrying out the first harvest of fruits when about 50 % of them are ripe.
The species is occasionally recorded from cultivated roses.
Distribution:
Northern and Central Europe to Asia Minor and Eastern Russia.
Pheromone:
Pheromone unknown.
Attractantia:
Z 8-12Ac
(Chambon and d'Aguilar, 1974)
or
Z 8-12Ac : 98
E 8-12Ac : 2
(Alford, 1978)