Crocidosema plebejana Zeller, 1847
Cotton Tipworm Moth
(one synonym : Penthina altheana Mann, 1855)
EUCOSMINI,   OLETHREUTINAE,   TORTRICIDAE,   TORTRICOIDEA
  
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Dave Britton & Stella Crossley

Crocidosema plebejana
(Photo: copyright of Dave Britton)

These Caterpillars bore into the tips and fruit of plants in the family MALVACEAE, including :

  • Cheeseweed ( Malva parviflora ),
  • Hibiscus ( Hibiscus rosa-sinensis ),
  • Spotted Flowering Maple ( Abutilon ),
  • Hollyhock ( Althaea ), and
  • Tree Mallow ( Lavatera ),

    and is an agricultural pest on

  • Cotton ( Gossypium hirsutum ).

    They have also been found feeding on :

  • Coffee Senna ( Cassia occidentalis, CAESALPINACEAE ).
  • Spreading Saltbush ( Atriplex limbata, CHENOPODIACEAE ), and
  • Wheat ( Triticum aestivum, POACEAE ).

    Crocidosema plebejana
    (Photo: courtesy of Graeme Cocks, Townsville, Queensland)

    The adult moths are a pale patchy brown. Their wingspan is about 2 cms.

    Crocidosema plebejana
    (Photo: courtesy of CSIRO/BIO Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

    The species is found worldwide, including

  • Argentina,
  • Costa Rica,
  • Greece
  • Madagascar,
  • New Zealand,
  • U.K.,
  • U.S.A.,

    as well as over the whole of Australia, including:

  • Western Australia,
  • Northern Territory,
  • Queensland,
  • New South Wales,
  • Australian Capital Territory,
  • Victoria,
  • Tasmania, and
  • South Australia.

    Crocidosema plebejana
    underside
    (Photo: courtesy of Graeme Cocks, Townsville, Queensland)


    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia,
    Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 28.4, pp. 68, 280.

    Marianne Horak and Furumi Komai,
    Olethreutine Moths of Australia: (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae),
    Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera Series, Volume 10,
    CSIRO Publishing, 2006, pp. 301-306.

    Philipp C. Zeller,
    Bemerkungen über die auf einer Reise nach Italien und Sicilien beobachteten Schmetterlingsarten,
    Isis von Oken, Jena, Heft 10 (1847), pp. 721-722, No. 283.


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    (updated 16 September 2013, 3 June 2018, 29 May 2020)