Author: (Doubleday, 1850)
Rose eucosmid
Species Overview:
Adult: 16-20 mm wingspan; forewing ground colour white, suffused and strigulated with plumbeous, grey and brown, with dark, diffusely strigulated, basal patch; median fascia tawny-brown, obsolete below costa, confluent dorsally with pre-tornal marking; subterminal fascia extending obliquely to costal strigulae, the latter fine and very oblique; apical spot inconspicuous; ocellus with vertical submetallic plumbeous striae laterally and a vertical series of three or more black dots or dashes medially. Hindwing grey.
Larva: head yellowish brown; prothoracic plate blackish brown or black; abdomen reddish or purplish brown dorsad of spiracles, yellowish white ventrally; pinacula concolorous with integument, inconspicuous; anal plate brown; anal comb present; thoracic legs blackish brown [Notocelia rosaecolana larva ].
Pupa: light brown; in the larval habitation or in a flimsy cocoon spun up amongst leaf litter.
Taxonomic Description:
Male:
Notocelia rosaecolana adult 1
Notocelia rosaecolana adult 2
External characters: 16-20 mm wingspan. Costal fold reaching to about two-fifths of forewing. Forewing ground colour white, suffused and strigulated with plumbeous and brown; costal strigulae fine and very oblique; basal and sub-basal fasciae dark fuscous or brown intermixed with plumbeous, confluent and forming a somewhat diffusely strigulated basal patch, its outer edge well defined below costa, varying from shallowly convex to almost straight or slightly sinuate; median and subterminal fasciae and pre-tornal marking tawny-brown variably mixed or suffused with fuscous and marked with irregular black dots; median fascia obsolete below costa, confluent dorsally with pre-tornal marking; subterminal fascia arising from below middle of termen, extending obliquely to costal strigulae, more or less confluent with an inconspicuous, brown apical spot; ocellus poorly defined, white, with vertical submetallic plumbeous striae laterally, the innermost very broad, a vertical series of three or more black dots or dashes medially, often extending into subterminal fascia; cilia dark grey, white at tornus, with a diffuse fuscous sub-basal line along termen. Hindwing grey; cilia paler, with a dark sub-basal line (Bradley et al., 1979).
male genitalia N. rosaecolana
Genitalia: Uncus rudimentary, gnathos not developed. Socii long and narrow. Valva narrow, with clasper, ventral margin of valva with deep notch before brush of cucullus. Aedeagus with group of long cornuti, and two additional fixed, short cornuti, situated terminally.
Female:
Notocelia rosaecolana female
External characters: Similar to male; without costal fold.
female genitalia N. rosaecolana
Genitalia: Lamella postvaginalis relatively narrow, with semi-membranous hairy lobes posteriorly. Cingulum situated postmedially in ductus bursae. Corpus bursae with two signa.
Taxonomic notes:
This species was erroneously recorded by Heinrich, 1923, and MacKay, 1959, as Notocelia trimaculana (suffusana).
Biology:
In Western Europe, moths fly in June and July. Eggs are laid on the food plant and hatch the following spring. Larvae occur in May and June, feeding in the young shoots, spinning the leaves together to form a shelter and boring into the heart of the shoot.
In June they pupate in the larval habitation or in a flimsy cocoon spun up amongst leaf litter (Bradley et al., 1979; Alford, 1995).
Host plants:
Rosa rubiginosa and other roses, especially cultivated varieties.
Damage:
Larvae damage cultivated roses, feeding in the young shoots, spinning the leaves together to form a shelter and boring into the heart of the shoot. Infestations cause loss of young shoots and lead to a reduction in the number of flowers; they also disfigure bushes (Bradley et al., 1979; Alford, 1995).
Distribution:
Europe to Eastern Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Mongiolia, Korea and Japan; Eastern U.S.A. (introduced).
Pheromone:
Pheromone unknown.
Attractantia:
E 8E 10-12Ac
(Booij and Voerman, 1984a)
or
E 8Z 10-12Ac : 1
Z 8E 10-12Ac : 1
(Witzgall et al., 1996b)
Other species of Notocelia recorded from Rosa spp.:
1. Notocelia incarnatana (Hübner)
Notocelia incarnatana adult; Notocelia incarnatana male; male genitalia N. incarnatana; female genitalia N. incarnatana
(Europe to China and Eastern Russia)
This species usually has a pronounced pink suffusion of the forewing ground colour. The male genitalia have relatively short socii, and the ventral margin of the valva only has a very shallow notch; in the female genitalia, the shape of the lamella postvaginalis is a diagnostic character.
2. Notocelia tetragonana (Stephens)
Notocelia tetragonana adult
Notocelia tetragonana male
(Europe, from England to Scandinavia and Romania; Trans-Caucasus)
This species can easily be recognized by the dark brown forewings with an isolated white spot on dorsum.
3. Notocelia plumbea Nasu
male genitalia N. plumbea
(Japan)
The forewing has two irregular grey fasciae. The valva of the male genitalia has a fairly deep, but relatively narrow, notch in the ventral margin.
4. Notocelia nimia Falkovitsh
N. nimia adult
male genitalia N. nimia
(Japan, Eastern Russia)
The basal area of the forewing of this species is creamy white (dark brown in other Japanese species of the genus Notocelia); the subbasal and basal fasciae are separated. The valva of the male genitalia has a very deep notch in the ventral margin; and does not have a clasper.
5. Notocelia longispina Nasu
male genitalia N. longispina
(Japan)
This species is best recognized by the male genitalia - the valva only has a very shallow notch in the ventral margin. Furthermore, the socii are relatively short.