Cacoecimorpha Obraztsov
Type species: pronubana Hübner
The genus is monotypic.
DIAGNOSIS
External characters:
Venation:
venation C. pronubana
Forewing: All veins separate; chorda from mid-distance between bases of Sc -R 1; CuP preserved in terminal part of wing only.
Hindwing: M 3 -CuA 1 extending from one point.
Forewing shape and markings:
Cacoecimorpha pronubana male 1; Cacoecimorpha pronubana fem 2
Costa of forewing gently arced, without costal fold; termen convex. Basal blotch atrophied, indicated in outline only. Hindwing bright orange, in males terminal margin suffused with black scaling, in females the inner margin.
Sexual dimorphism:
Forewings less intensively coloured than the male; reticulation more pronounced. In males the hindwing has black scaling on especially the terminal margin; in females black scaling is only present on the basal margin.
Genitalia:
Male:
male genitalia C. pronubana
Uncus almost heart-shaped, with weak hairy brush; gnathos arms and plates well developed, socii very small. Valva ovate with delicate dorsal part, small area of oblique folds and minute sclerite of disc; sacculus large, with postmedian dentate process. Transtilla heavily sclerotized, provided with postbasal processes directed distally; juxta simple; aedeagus with completely atrophied coecum penis and minute caulis and hairy lateral lobes.
Female:
female gen. C. pronubana
Sterigma broad, rather short, with ill-defined antevaginal plate and strong lateral sclerites; ostium bursae small; antrum short provided with incomplete tubular sclerite; ductus seminalis from middle of antrum; cestum very long; signum a minute dagger extending from collar-shaped, elevated sclerite.
Early stages:
Eggs of Cacoecimorpha pronubana are light green and deposited in batches covered with mucilage.
The colour of the larvae may vary to some extent, but on carnation it is usually yellowish-green to olive-green, paler below. Swatschek, 1958, provides information about chaetotaxy: SV group trisetose on first, second, and seventh abdominal segments, bisetose on eighth and ninth abdominal segments; SD1 cranial to spiracle on eighth abdominal segment, spiracle on this segment clearly bigger than pinaculum of seta SD1; V setae closer together on eight abdominal segment than on ninth. Second stemma equidistant from first and third.
Pupa are dark brown to black, the cremaster is elongate and tapered, with eight strong, hooked spines.
Biology:
There are two to seven generations yearly; hibernation occurs in the larval stage (third and fourth generation). Larvae are polyphagous; first instar larvae mine leaves, older larvae spin and roll leaves and petals and bore in flower buds.
Distribution:
North America; South Africa; Europe to Asia Minor and North Africa (widespread in Italy, Malta, Spain, France, Israel and locally established in England, Wales, Guernsey, Jersey, Greece, Switzerland, Poland, Morocco, Algeria and Sicily). It has been occasionally recorded from Denmark, the Federal Republic of Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands, but is not established in these countries.