TORTRICIDAE: Tortricinae ⁵

Epiphyas postvittana (Walker, 1863). F.L. 6-13 mm. Adventive. Common & Widespread.

Male smaller than the female. Male forewing with basal half pale yellowish, rest of wing reddish brown. Female more plainly marked.

Habitat, seasonality and behaviour ⁶

Forest clearings and edges; parks and gardens; orchards; shrubland; plantations; dunes and waste ground. Adults may be found throughout the year, but mainly from October to April. They can be disturbed from vegetation by day, fly from dusk onwards and come to light.

Life history ⁶

The insect is regarded as an herbivorous generalist. Foodplants include many trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants: in a spinning among living and dead plant tissues, including flowers, leaves, fruits and seeds. Eggs are laid in batches of up to 130 on the upper side of leaves. The larvae feed in spun shoots and leaves of a large number of plants, including apple, raspberry, gorse, young radiata pine, tutu and acacia. Sometimes the larva will spin a leaf to a fruit, e.g., of apple, and damage the surface of the fruit. Pupation is in a cocoon spun between leaves.

Notes ⁶

It is an extremely variable species. An adventive from Australia.

Sources and Credits

1. (c) Ben Sale, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:(0998)_Epiphyas_postvittana_(36538746973).jpg
2. (c) bramblejungle, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://www.flickr.com/photos/10728961@N02/3619762979
3. (c) Ken-ichi Ueda, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Ken-ichi Ueda
4. (c) Tony Iwane, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Tony Iwane
5. Adapted by Tony Steer from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphyas_postvittana
6. (c) Tony Steer, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)

More Info

• iNaturalist NZ taxon page
• Animal Diversity Web
• Atlas of Living Australia
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• BugGuide
• Butterflies and Moths of North America
• CalPhotos
• CUIC Insect Images
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants
• Lepiforum
• Moth Photographers Group
• NatureServe Explorer 2.0
• NBN Atlas
• Pacific Northwest Moths
• Tortricid.net
• UK Moths

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