Author: (Denis and Schiffermüller, 1775)
Species Overview:
Adult: 16-22 mm wingspan; ground colour white, suffused with plumbeous and pale ochreous, with a dark, diffusely strigulated basal patch, extending along costal fold in male, and with pale ochreous or tawny-brown median and subterminal fasciae and pre-tornal marking, marked with black dots; median fascia obsolete below costa, confluent with pre-tornal marking; subterminal fascia more or less confluent with apical spot; ocellus with vertical striae laterally and several black dots in upper part medially, which merge with a cluster of black dots in subterminal fascia. Hindwing whitish grey, darker apically.
Larva: head yellowish brown; prothoracic plate blackish brown or black; abdomen reddish brown or dark brown, translucent; pinacula brown, inconspicuous; anal plate small, blackish brown or black [Notocelia roborana larva ].
Pupa: 8-10 mm long; yellowish brown; frons protruding, without processes; abdominal segment with 3 pairs of hooked setae dorsally and 2 pairs of hooked setae ventrally, ventral rim dentate, spines on anal segment clearly bigger than those on the ninth segment.
Taxonomic Description:
Male:
Notocelia roborana adult 1
Notocelia roborana adult 2
Notocelia roborana male
External characters: 16-22 mm wingspan. Forewing with a well-developed costal fold reaching to middle. Ground colour white to cream-white, suffused or diffusely strigulated with plumbeous and pale ochreous, sometimes heavily except medio-dorsally; basal and sub-basal fasciae dark fuscous or brown intermixed with plumbeous, confluent and forming a dark, diffusely strigulated basal patch extending along costal fold, its outer edge more or less straight from below costa and parallel with termen; median and subterminal fasciae and pre-tornal marking pale ochreous or tawny-brown, marked with irregular black dots; median fascia diffuse and poorly defined, obsolete below costa, confluent with pre-tornal marking; subterminal fascia arising from below middle of termen, extending obliquely to costal strigulae, with a ferruginous admixture, more or less confluent with a ferruginous or tawny-brown apical spot; ocellus white, with vertical submetallic plumbeous striae laterally, the innermost broadest, several black dots in upper part medially which merge with a cluster of black dots in subterminal fascia; cilia grey, white or cream at tornus, with a dark sub-basal line along termen. Hindwing whitish grey, darker and sometimes faintly dappled apically; cilia paler, tipped with dark grey around apex, with a dark sub-basal line (Bradley et al., 1979).
male genitalia N. roborana
Genitalia: Uncus rudimentary, gnathos not developed. Socii narrow. Valva relatively broad, with clasper, ventral margin of valva with shallow notch before brush of cucullus. Aedeagus with group of long cornuti, and two additional fixed, short cornuti, situated terminally.
Female:
Notocelia roborana females
External characters: Similar to male; without costal fold.
female genitalia N. roborana
Genitalia: Lamella postvaginalis broad, slightly hairy dorsally, nearly rectangular, with semi-membranous hairy lobes posteriorly. Cingulum situated post-medially in ductus bursae. Corpus bursae with 2 signa.
Variation:
The strength of the plumbeous suffusion in the forewing varies considerably.
Biology:
Moths fly from late June to early August. Females deposit their eggs, which then hibernate. Larvae occur in May and June, feeding in spun leaves and shoots of the host plant, spinning the leaves of a shoot tightly together and eating out the heart. Sometimes they also attack the flower buds. Pupation occurs in June, spun up in the larval habitation (Bradley et al., 1979).
Host plants:
Rosa; also on Rubus (including raspberry), Prunus spinosa, Crataegus, Myrica gale and Quercus.
Damage:
Larvae damage cultivated roses, spinning the leaves of a shoot tightly together and eating out the heart, sometimes attacking the flower buds. Infested bushes are disfigured and new shoots distorted or destroyed. Larvae can also damage flower beds (Bradley et al., 1979; Alford, 1995).
Distribution:
Europe to Eastern Russia; Asia Minor, Iran, Mongolia and China.
Pheromone:
Z 8E 10-12Ac : 5 *
Z 10-14Ac : 19 *
E 10-14Ac : 3
14Ac : 12
16Ac : 3
Components marked with * are involved in attraction (Witzgall et al., 1996b).
Parasitoids:
of egg:
Trichogramma sp. (Trichogrammatidae)
of larva:
Diadegma praerogator (Linnaeus) (Ichneumonidae)
Campoplex difformis (Gmel.) (Ichneumonidae)
Elachertus argissa (Walker) (Ichneumonidae)
Acropimpla pictipes (Grav.) (Ichneumonidae)
Apanteles sp. laevigatus group (Braconidae)
Ascogaster ratzeburgii (Marsh.) (Braconidae)
Bracon sp. (Braconidae)
Other species of Notocelia recorded from cultivated roses:
1. Notocelia incarnatana (Hübner)
Notocelia incarnatana adult; Notocelia incarnatana male; male genitalia N. incarnatana; female genitalia N. incarnatana
This species usually has a pronounced pink suffusion of the forewing ground colour. The male genitalia have fixed cornuti that are longer than the clasper (shorter than clasper in Notocelia roborana) ; in the female genitalia, the shape of the lamella postvaginalis is a diagnostic character.
2. Notocelia tetragonana (Stephens)
Notocelia tetragonana adult
Notocelia tetragonana male
This species can easily be recognized by the dark brown forewings with an isolated white spot on dorsum (Europe, from England to Scandinavia and Romania; Trans-Caucasus).