Author: (Herrich-Schäffer, 1860)
Forest tortricid
Green tortricid
Species Overview:
Adult: male 17-23 mm wingspan, female 20-27 mm; forewings ochreous, with pale brown markings; inner margin of median fascia well-defined, often darker, not produced, outer margin less well-defined; hindwings whitish; antennae of male without a basal notch.
Egg: deposited on the upper-side of the leaves and on the smooth surface of stems and branches.
Pupa: 9-15 mm long; brown; dorsal part of cremaster without deep depression, apical half longitudinally wrinkled; bristles on cremaster arcuately bent, with hooked apices.
Taxonomic Description:
Male:
Pandemis chondrillana male
Pandemis chondrillana males
External characters: 17-23 mm wingspan. Antennae without a basal notch. Head, thorax and abdomen ochreous yellow. Forewing without costal fold, costa strongly curved basally, then slightly sinuate; termen fairly straight, slightly oblique. Forewing ground colour pale ochreous, strigulated with brown; markings brownish, the inner margin of the median fascia well-defined, often darker, the outer margin less well-defined. Pre-apical spot well-defined. The forewings resemble those of Pandemis corylana in colouration, but in this species the forewing markings are more clearly outlined with dark brown, and the pre-apical spot is less defined. Hindwing whitish (Kennel, 1908-1921).
male genitalia P. chondrillana
Genitalia: Sacculus broad, with semi-circular notch on ventral margin. Socii almost same length as gnathos. Uncus slender (not broader than transsection of aedeagus). Aedeagus curved, with spinule on upper side of left wall.
Female:
Pandemis chondrillana female
External characters: 20-27 mm wingspan. Forewing colouration and markings as in male.
female gen. P. chondrillana
Genitalia: Sterigma broad posteriorly, then narrowing abruptly; antrum long. Ductus bursae without cestum. Corpus bursae without two sclerotized patches; signum with long basal plate.
Variation:
The intensity of the markings and the strigulations may show some variation.
Biology:
In Southern Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tadjikistan, there are 2 to 3 generations yearly. Second or third, or sometimes also fourth instar larvae hibernate in dense silken cocoons, usually in bark cracks on the root neck, on the trunks and branches or under leaf remains webbed to bark, but also near the base of buds. The pupal stage of the hibernated generation lasts 8-15 days. The larvae start feeding again when the fruit trees begin to bloom in April. At first, they feed on the leaf and flower buds, or skeletonize the young leaves on the apex of the leading shoots. They make shelters by webbing two to four leaves together, or by rolling the leaf around its main vein. Older larvae, and larvae of later generations, web ovaries and fruits together with the leaves. These damaged ovaries and fruits remain undeveloped, wither and then fall to the ground. One larva can damage eight generative organs or four to eight leaves. Moths fly in the evening and early in the night, rarely in the morning. During the day they hide in the shadow on the lower surface of the leaves. In southern Kazakhstan, moths are on wing from mid May until late June and again from mid August until mid September (Bulyginskaya et al., 1994).
Host plants:
Larvae prefer apple (Malus), pear (Pyrus), apricot, plum, almond, peach and cherry (Prunus), quince (Cydonia), poplar (Populus) and willow (Salix). Also on Elaeagnus, rose (Rosa), pomegranate (Punica granatum), cotton (Gossypium), pistachio (Pistacia), lilac (Syringa) and oak (Quercus).
Damage:
Most damage is caused by larvae of the second and third instar, which damage not only the leaves but also the fruits. These become pitted, and economic losses may be considerable.
Distribution:
Southern and Eastern Europe, Asia Minor, Iran, Pakistan, Mongolia, North-Western China, Kazakshastan, Russia to South-Western Siberia.
Pheromone:
Pheromone unknown.
Parasitoids:
Sympiesis albiventris Storozheva (Eulophidae)
Actia pamirica Richter (Tachinidae)