Author: (Danilevsky, 1947)
Pear tortricid
Pear fruit moth
Species Overview:
Adult: 17-22 mm wingspan; general colouration of forewing whitish grey, with pronounced, transverse, dark brown strigulation and a large, distinctly silvery ocellus. Hindwing greyish brown.
Egg: 1.1 mm x 0.8 mm; nearly round.
Larva: head dark blackish brown or black; abdomen dirty white; anal comb absent.
Pupa: 10-12 mm long; brown, in a cocoon, usually on the surface of the soil, under fallen leaves or soil clumps or in the upper layer of the soil.
Taxonomic Description:
Male:
Cydia pyrivora adult
External characters: 17-22 mm wingspan. Forewing whitish-grey, striated transversely with blackish brown, costa with clearly visible blackish strigulae, separated by narrow whitish bands; fasciate markings dark brown; basal field with ill-defined whitish lines; ocellus large, surrounded by white lines with leaden or silvery hue; four blackish stria present in ocellus. Hindwing greyish brown.
This species resembles Cydia pomonella, but in the latter the ocellus is usually bordered by coppery or golden metallic striae.
male genitalia Cydia pyrivora
Genitalia: Ventral margin of valva with large notch and large dent situated near sacculus. Aedeagus large, longer than valva to ventral dent. 10-12 large cornuti present in vesica.
Female:
External characters: Similar to male.
female genitalia Cydia pyrivora
Genitalia: Ductus bursae extremely broad, with internal sclerites. Papillae analis semi-circular, fused in middle. Lamella postvaginalis broad.
Biology:
Cydia pyrivora is an univoltine species. Females lay about 40 eggs, which are deposited singly on the fruit of the host plant. Only when there are very high numbers of moths present in an orchard would up to 4 or 5 eggs be deposited on one fruit, but only one larva completes development due to cannibalism. Egg development lasts 6-7 days at temperatures of 12-15 °C and 20 days at temperatures of 23-27 °C. Immediately after hatching, the larva bores into the fruit and burrows down to the core, where it feeds on the pips. Larvae undergo 5 developmental stages during a period of 25-30 days. Full-grown larvae hibernate in a parchment-like cocoon on the surface of the soil, under fallen leaves or soil clumps or in the upper layer of the soil. On the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, overwintering is mostly on the lower parts of the trunk. Pupation occurs in the spring. Based on records from Austria, the pupal stage lasts 4 to 6 weeks. Here, the date of occurrence of the first moths varies from year to year, but is usually in the second half of June. In Russia, moths may appear in May. The moths then fly for about 5 weeks.
Host plants:
Pyrus.
Damage:
The species is an important pest of pear wherever it occurs.
The larvae bore into the fruit and feed on the pips. The initial bore hole closes again and only leaves a small brown spot, which makes the presence of larvae hard to detect. When the larva is fully developed it leaves the fruit through a hole of 1-2 mm, leaving the fruit susceptible to fungal infection. According to Frilli and Ciampolini, 1976, middle to late ripening pears are attacked most in Italy; Zagainyi, 1974, reports that early varieties are preferred in Russia.
Distribution:
The species is known from Latvia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Sardinia, Sicily, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, Algeria, Crete, Ukraine and Southern and Central Russia.
Pheromone:
E 8E 10-12Ac : 0.5 *
12Ac : 0.2
14Ac : 0.2
16Ac : 0.2
(Witzgall et al., 1996b)
Component marked with * is involved in attraction.
Parasitoids:
In Russia, Pimpla spuria Grav. and Hemiteles carbaryl (Sevin) (Ichneumonidae) were obtained from cocoons of Cydia pyrivora, but the parasitoids were unimportant in reducing the population.
Pleisthophora carpocapsae Simchuk and Issi (Microsporidia, Nosematidae) was found in larvae and pupae of Cydia pomonella, but appeared to be infective for Cydia pyrivora as well.