KEYS    About TortAI    Fact Sheets    Glossary    ID Thumbnails    DNA Search    Dissection Guides Decodes fragariana << Previous Next >> CAPS Non-target - Adult Decodes fragariana (Busck) (Tortricidae: Tortricinae: Cnephasiini) Synonyms: elapsa (Peronea) Fig. 1: Male Fig. 1: Male Fig. 2: Male Fig. 2: Male Fig. 3: Female Fig. 3: Female Fig. 4: Male genitalia Fig. 4: Male genitalia Fig. 5: Female genitalia Fig. 5: Female genitalia Adult Recognition FWL: 6.0-8.5 mm Forewings are gray with a strongly arched costa. Forewing pattern varies, with some specimens marked with well-defined dark-gray fasciae and others unmarked. Males lack a forewing costal fold.  Decodes basiplagana is similar, but males have an aedeagus that is curved less than 90 degrees and females have a signum in the corpus burase. Decodes montanus is similar to both species, but the male aedeagus is more strongly curved than in D. fragariana and females of D. montanus have a band of dark scales on the seventh sternite that is lacking in the other two species. Wing pattern is not diagnostic and cannot be used to reliably separate the Decodes species listed here. Biology Decodes fragariana completes one generation per year in California. Adults are present in late August through October. Females deposit eggs on rough twigs or bark and cover them with debris. The eggs enter diapause and overwinter until the following spring. Larvae hatch in the spring, construct a silken feeding tube on the bottom of a leaf or between two leaves, and feed on new growth until mature. Mature larvae drop to the ground and pupae in silk cocoons covered in soil or other particles. Adults eclose in the fall. Host plants This species was originally described as feeding on strawberry; however, D. fragariana has subsequently been recorded feeding only on live oak. Powell and Opler (2009) suggest that the individuals found in association with strawberry were simply pupating after having completed larval development on nearby oak trees. Family Genus/species Common name Fagaceae [leaf litter] Fagaceae Quercus agrifolia Nee California live oak Fagaceae Quercus douglasii Hook. & Arn. blue oak Fagaceae Quercus dumosa Nutt. coastal sage scrub oak Fagaceae Quercus durata Jeps. leather oak Fagaceae Quercus garryana Douglas ex Hook. Oregon white oak Fagaceae Quercus kelloggii Newb. California black oak Fagaceae Quercus L. oak Fagaceae Quercus lobata Nee valley oak Fagaceae Quercus turbinella Greene Sonoran scrub oak Fagaceae Quercus wislizeni A. DC. interior live oak [Rosaceae] [Fragaria L.] [strawberry] Distribution Decodes fragariana ranges from British Columbia south to San Diego, California and east to Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. References Powell, J. A. 1964. Biological and taxonomic studies on tortricine moths, with reference to the species in California. University of California Publications in Entomology. Vol. 32. 317 pp. Powell, J. A. and P. A. Opler. 2009. Moths of western North America. University of California Press, Berkeley. 369 pp. Tortricids of Agricultural Importance by Todd M. Gilligan and Marc E. Epstein Interactive Keys developed in Lucid 3.5. Last updated August 2014.