Author: (Denis and Schiffermüller, 1775)
Species Overview:
Adult: 11-14 mm wingspan; forewing falcate; ground colour white, overlaid with ferruginous-orange; with a conspicuous, subquadrate, velvety chestnut-brown to chocolate-brown basal patch dorsally, the distal margin sharply defined and edged with white. Hindwing dark grey.
Larva: 12 mm long; head yellowish brown or light greenish brown, strongly marked with black dorsally; prothoracic plate pale green, with a large blackish patch on postero-lateral margin and two small patches contiguous with medial sulcus posteriorly; abdomen greyish green, paler ventrally, sometimes with a faint darker dorsal line; pinacula paler than integument, moderately prominent; anal plate light green marked with blackish brown; anal comb absent; thoracic legs brownish [Ancylis mitterbachiana larva ].
Pupa: 6-8 mm long; light reddish-brown; spun up in a cocoon in the larval habitation which has fallen to the ground in the previous autumn, or amongst leaf-litter.
Taxonomic Description:
Male:
Ancylis mitterbachiana adult 1
Ancylis mitterbachiana adult 2
External characters: 12-16 mm wingspan. Forewing falcate; ground colour white, overlaid with ferruginous-orange; a subquadrate, velvety chestnut-brown to chocolate-brown basal patch dorsally, suffused with ochreous-orange at base, diffuse costally, distal margin sharply defined and edged with white; median fascia ferruginous-brown, suffused with ochreous-orange, narrow and moderately well defined costally, with outer edge very oblique to subapical area, contiguous with a plumbeous stria, thence angled dorsad and becoming obsolete towards dorsum; pre-tornal marking obsolete; a sprinkling of black scales in tornal area and a submetallic light grey patch above; subterminal fascia arising as a slender band on upper part of termen and spreading into apical area, transversed by a black dash extending from below apex into angle of median fascia; cilia fuscous at apex, ochreous-white suffused with grey along termen, with a fuscous subapical dash which is black at base, and a black basal line extending from this dash to middle of termen. Hindwing dark grey; cilia paler, with a dark sub-basal line (Bradley et al., 1979).
male gen. A. mitterbachiana
Genitalia: Uncus long, longitudinally divided; gnathos not developed; socii short; cucullus very narrow apically, with large subtriangular ventral lobe; sacculus with short, triangular, apical projection.
Female:
External characters: Similar to male
female gen. A. mitterbachiana
Genitalia: Papillae analis slender; sterigma membranous dorsally; lamella antevaginalis strongly protruding, rounded, with a narrow rim; corpus bursae with two large signa; base of signa elongated.
Variation:
The general colouration and markings show mostly only minor variation, but sometimes the normally bright colouration is subdued by greyish suffusion which occasionally is sufficiently heavy to obscure the white ground colour edging the basal patch and the costal strigulae (Bradley et al., 1979).
Biology:
In the UK, moths fly in May and June. Larvae can be found from July till September, inhabiting individual pod-like shelters, formed out of a folded leaf, grazing upon the innermost surface. They overwinter in the larval habitation and pupate in the following spring (Alford, 1995).
On the continent, there may be two generations yearly; moth flying from May till August. Larvae from the second generation overwinter.
Host plants:
Quercus, Fagus.
Damage:
folded oak leaf (A. m.)
A larva spins a leaf into a capacious pod and eats the parenchyma, scarifying the inner surface. Larval habitations attract attention when present on nursery or specimen trees, but feeding damage is superficial and of little or no importance.
Distribution:
Europe to Asia Minor.
Pheromone:
Pheromone unknown.