![]() | Pink Bollworm (also known as Platyedra gossypiella) PEXICOPIINAE, GELECHIIDAE, GELECHIOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of
Peggy Greb , United States Department of Agriculture,
Agricultural Research Service)
This Caterpillar is initially white, becoming pink, and has a brown head and split collar. It grows to a length of about 1 cm. It bores into a bud or fruit of its food plant. It often feeds on
but also feeds on and is a worldwide pest causing losses up to 60% of the crop of
The adult moths have a brown pattern on the forewings. The hindwings are off-white with brown veins. The wingspan is about 2 cms. The pheromones of this species have been identified.
The species occurs world-wide, including
and has been found in Australia in:
although some of the sightings may involve confusion between this species and similar pest species in Pectinophora and Pexicopia.
Attempts are being made to control Pectinophora gossypiella using :
Further reading :
Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, pp. 59, 260.
Ian F.B. Common,
A revision of the pink bollworms of cotton
(Pectinophora busck (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae)) and related genera in Austalia,
Australian Journal of Zoology,
Volume 6, Number 3 (1958), pp. 268-306.
William Wilson Saunders,
Descriptions of species of Moth destructive to the cotton crops in India,
Transactions of the Entomological Society of London,
Volume 3 (1844), p. 285.
![]() caterpillar | ![]() butterflies | ![]() Lepidoptera | ![]() moths | ![]() caterpillar |
(updated 26 March 2011, 11 November 2024)