Author: (Hübner 1799)
Poplar tortricid
Species Overview:
Adult: 12-15 mm wingspan; forewing distinctly tinged with pink or pale purplish; ground colour whitish ochreous, strigulated with red-brown mixed with black; markings pale tawny to reddish brown, mixed and strigulated with blackish brown and black; hindwing light fuscous, darker apically.
Larva: head pale yellowish brown; prothoracic plate light yellowish brown, lateral margin broadly edged with black; abdomen greyish white to greenish yellow; pinacula concolorous with integument, inconspicuous [Gypsonoma minutana larva ].
Pupa: reddish brown, anal segment with 3 pairs of setae dorsally and 2 pairs of setae ventrally; spines on anal segment not or only slightly bigger than those on the 9th abdominal segment. In the larval habitation, in a flimsy cocoon constructed of silk and frass.
Taxonomic Description:
Male:
Gypsonoma minutana adult
Gypsonoma minutana male
External characters: 12-15 mm wingspan. Forewing distinctly tinged with pink or pale purplish; ground colour whitish ochreous, strigulated with red-brown mixed with black; markings pale tawny to reddish brown, mixed and strigulated with blackish brown and black; basal and sub-basal fasciae forming a heavily strigulated basal patch, its outer edge moderately well defined, prominently angulated medially; median fascia moderately defined, indistinctly edged with pale violaceous-plumbeous, confluent with pre-tornal marking; ocellus well developed, consisting of six or seven closely parallel black dashes irrorate with white, edged with pale violaceous-plumbeous; subterminal fascia linear, arising from below middle of termen, curving obliquely inwards above ocellus to costal strigulae; cilia ochreous-white weakly tinged with purple, suffused with dark grey around apex, a blackish brown sub-basal line along termen. Hindwing light fuscous, darker apically; cilia paler, with a dark sub-basal line (Bradley et al., 1979).
male genitalia G. minutana
Genitalia: Uncus and gnathos absent; socii broad and large, curved outwards. Tegumen without androconial scales. Valva with clasper, cucullus with heavily sclerotized spinescent setae present on margin (no glabrous rim).
Female:
External characters: similar to male.
female genitalia G. minutana
Genitalia: Sterigma a simple round plate with ostium in middle. Antrum well sclerotized; cingulum fairly large, ductus seminalis originating from cingulum. Corpus bursae with 2 thorn-like signa.
Variation
Some variation is found in the strength of the forewing strigulation.
Biology:
In the UK, moths fly in July, frequenting margins and rides of woods and parks and gardens where large, well-established poplars grow. Young larvae probably hibernate. Larvae feed between whorls and closely joined leaves, in May and June. Pupation occurs in June, in the larval habitation, in a flimsy cocoon constructed of silk and frass.
In the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy, there are 2-3 generations a year, with adults appearing from late May to mid June, late July to mid August and from mid September to late October. Larvae overwinter from late October to late May under the bud-scales, the opening of which is plugged with frass and silk. The active feeding larva bind leaves together with silk and feed inside the tunnel thus formed, expelling the excreta so as to cover and strengthen the outside of the tunnel; usually only two leaves are bound together and the inner surface of one is destroyed by feeding, but in some cases the second leaf is damaged and 1-2 further leaves are incorporated into the tunnel (Bradley et al., 1979; Giunchi and Giovanni, 1987).
Host plants:
Populus nigra, Populus alba, Populus tremula.
Damage:
Gypsonoma minutana is recorded as a serious pest in parks in Russia.
Larvae feed between whorls and closely joined leaves (Kuznetsov, 1987).
Distribution:
Europe (as far north as Finland) and Northern Africa, Turkey, Trans-Caucasus, Ural, Kazakhstan, Central Asia to Siberia and Eastern Russia, Asia Minor, Iran, Afghanistan, Mongolia, China and Japan.
Pheromone:
Pheromone unknown.
Attractantia:
Z 11-14Ac : 9
E 11-14Ac : 1
12Ac : 10
(Safonkin and Buleza, 1988)
Parasitoids:
(record from Italy)
Lochetica pimplaria (Ichneumonidae)
Pristomerus vulnerator (Ichneumonidae)
Itoplectis maculator (Ichneumonidae)
Agasthenes fulvipes (Ichneumonidae)
Apanteles laevigatus (Braconidae)
Phytomyptera nitidiventris (Tachinidae)
Other Gypsonoma species on Populus:
1. Gypsonoma incarnana Haworth
(syn.: dealbana)
Gypsonoma incarnana adults 1
Gypsonoma incarnana adults 2
male genitalia G. incarnana
Forewing ground colour white, apex with admixture of rusty scales. Ventral margin of valva of male genitalia with large notch; tegumen with androconial scales. Larvae in catkins.
(Populus, Crataegus, Quercus, Corylus, Prunus, Pyrus and Salix; Northern and Central Europe to Siberia, Eastern Russia, China and Japan).
2. Gypsonoma nitidulana (Lienig & Zeller)
forewing G. nitidulana
male genitalia G. nitidulana
Median fascia distinct, dark grey, distal margin angulate; male genitalia with clasper located in centre of neck of valva; tegumen with androconial scales. Larvae feed in leaves.
(Populus tremulus - Northern and Central Europe to Siberia, Eastern Russia and Mongolia; N. America).
3. Gypsonoma obraztsovi Amsel
forewing G. obraztsovi
male genitalia G. obraztsovi
Median fascia ill-defined, distal margin angulate; basal patch less angulate than in Gypsonoma minutana; cucullus of male genitalia with more than 20 spines arranged in a cluster; tegumen with androconial scales. Larvae in open leaf buds and rolled leaves.
(Populus, Salix - Southern Caucasus, Trans-Caucasus, Tadzhikistan, Romania, Asia Minor and Iran).
4. Gypsonoma euphraticana Amsel
forewing G. euphraticana
male genitalia G. euphraticana
Width of forewing less than 2 mm; valva of male genitalia covered with short and broad oar-shaped scales. Larvae between close-set leaves.
(Populus diversifolia, Populus euphratica - Kazakhstan, Turkestan, Uzbekistan, Tadzhikistan, Northern Africa, Asia Minor, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan)