Tortricidae

49.336 Scarce Spruce Bark Moth Cydia pactolana (Zeller, 1840)

pRDB1

Similar species:

Forewing: 6 to 6.5mm

Habitats: Coniferous woodland and plantations.

Habits: The moth is nocturnal and comes to light. It was first recorded in Britain in Hampshire in 1965.

Foodplant: The early stages have not been recorded in Britain and Ireland. On the European mainland it lives in silk-lined tunnels in the bark, eating the cambium of 5 to 15 year old trees of Norway Spruce and European Larch. It sometimes encircles a shoot, killing the twig or travels up and down the trunk causing the resin to flow, leaving white streaks on the trunk. There is yellow-brown frass at the entrance to the tunnel. It pupates in the larval feeding place amongst the frass near the entrance.