Type

Native

Taxonomy

Argyrotaenia pinatubana (Kearfott) (Tortricidae: Tortricinae: Archipini)

Common name: pine tube moth

Synonym: pinitubana (Eulia)

Adult Recognition

FWLFWL:
forewing length; the distance from the base of the forewing to the apex, including fringe
: 5.0-7.0 mm

Head and palpi yellow to orange; thorax similarly colored, sometimes with patches of gray scales. Forewing with fasciaefascia:
a dark transverse band on the forewing
red to orange, usually blurred, but sometimes strongly contrasting (similar to A. kimballi); interfasciae heavily suffused with dusty gray scaling; costal fold absent; hindwing gray.

Male genitalia are characterized by a finger-like uncusuncus:
a sclerotized process which is fused to the posterodorsal margin of tergum IX
; reduced sociisocii:
a pair of lightly sclerotized setose lobes
; and rounded, membranous valvaevalva:
an appendage flanking the intromittent organ that is used to clasp the female during copulation
. Female genitalia have not been illustrated in the scientific literature but likely resemble other species of Argyrotaenia.

Larval Morphology

The following account is summarized from MacKay (1962a) and Maier et al. (2004).

Mature larva up to 15 mm in length; width of head approximately 1.0-1.1 mm; head brownish yellow with darker pigmentation in ocellar area, prothoracic shieldprothoracic shield:
a sclerotized plate on the dorsal surface of the prothorax
and legs light brown, brownish yellow, or dark brown, unmarked; body pale green; pinaculapinaculum:
flattened sclerotized plates on a caterpillar that bear the setae
 large, conspicuous; anal fork well-developed, with 6-8 teeth; SV group on A1, 2, 7, 8, 9 numbering 3:3:3:2:2.

A more detailed description of larval chaetotaxychaetotaxy:
the arrangement of setae (in reference to Lepidoptera larvae), often depicted on a "setal map"
is available in MacKay (1962a).

 

Similar Species

Adults are similar to several other species of Argyrotaenia, such as A. kimballi and A. velutinana. Larvae could be confused with A. tabulana, which also feeds in silken tubes of pines, but prefers hard pines such as jack pine (Pinus banksiana) and pitch pine (P. rigida) and never eastern white pine (P. strobus).

Biology

The following account is summarized from Maier et al. (2004).

Argyrotaenia pinatubana may be a specialist on eastern white pine (Pinus strobus). The additional host records in Prentice (1966)Prentice (1966):
Prentice, R. M. 1966. Vol. 4. Microlepidoptera. In : Forest Lepidoptera of Canada recorded by the Forest Insect Survey. Dept. For. Canada Publ. 1142: 543-840. are dubious. As its name suggests, A. pinatubana ties needles from one or more pine fascicle together to construct a tube in which the larva lives and feeds. Feeding occurs at the ends of the tubes. In New England, there are two generations per year. Larvae active from June-July and again from September-October. Overwintering occurs in the pupal stage in constructed pine tubes.

Host plant	Host plant family	Reference(s)
Thuja plicata	Cupressaceae	Prentice 1966Prentice 1966: Prentice, R. M. 1966. Vol. 4. Microlepidoptera. In : Forest Lepidoptera of Canada recorded by the Forest Insect Survey. Dept. For. Canada Publ. 1142: 543-840.
Abies amabilis	Pinaceae	Prentice 1966Prentice 1966: Prentice, R. M. 1966. Vol. 4. Microlepidoptera. In : Forest Lepidoptera of Canada recorded by the Forest Insect Survey. Dept. For. Canada Publ. 1142: 543-840.
Abies balsamea	Pinaceae	Prentice 1966Prentice 1966: Prentice, R. M. 1966. Vol. 4. Microlepidoptera. In : Forest Lepidoptera of Canada recorded by the Forest Insect Survey. Dept. For. Canada Publ. 1142: 543-840.
Picea sitchensis	Pinaceae	Prentice 1966Prentice 1966: Prentice, R. M. 1966. Vol. 4. Microlepidoptera. In : Forest Lepidoptera of Canada recorded by the Forest Insect Survey. Dept. For. Canada Publ. 1142: 543-840.
Pinus banksiana	Pinaceae	Prentice 1966Prentice 1966: Prentice, R. M. 1966. Vol. 4. Microlepidoptera. In : Forest Lepidoptera of Canada recorded by the Forest Insect Survey. Dept. For. Canada Publ. 1142: 543-840.
Pinus contorta	Pinaceae	Prentice 1966Prentice 1966: Prentice, R. M. 1966. Vol. 4. Microlepidoptera. In : Forest Lepidoptera of Canada recorded by the Forest Insect Survey. Dept. For. Canada Publ. 1142: 543-840.
Pinus strobus	Pinaceae	LACM IndexLACM Index: LACM Index. Records from the card file at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, Los Angeles, California; transcribed by Gaeden Robinson (BMNH).; Prentice 1966Prentice 1966: Prentice, R. M. 1966. Vol. 4. Microlepidoptera. In : Forest Lepidoptera of Canada recorded by the Forest Insect Survey. Dept. For. Canada Publ. 1142: 543-840.; Schaffner 1959Schaffner 1959: Schaffner, J. V. 1959. Microlepidoptera and their parasites reared from field collections in the northeastern United States. USDA, Misc. Publ. 767. 97 pp.; Freeman 1960Freeman 1960: Freeman, T.N. 1960. Needle-mining Lepidoptera of pine in North America. Canadian Entomologist (suppl.) 16: 1-51.; MacKay 1962aMacKay 1962a: MacKay, M. R. 1962a. Larvae of the North American Tortricinae (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae). Canadian Entomologist, Supplement 28: 1-182.; Ferguson 1975Ferguson 1975: Ferguson, D. C. 1975. Host records for Lepidoptera reared in eastern North America. United States Department of Agriculture Technical Bulletin 1521. 49 pp.
Pinus sp.	Pinaceae	Forbes 1923Forbes 1923: Forbes, W. M. T. 1923. The Lepidoptera of New York and neighboring states. Primitive forms, Microlepidoptera, Pyraloids, Bombyces. Cornell Univ. Argic. Exp. Sta., Mem. 68. 729 pp.; Meyrick MS 1938Meyrick MS 1938: Meyrick MS 1938. Unpublished manuscript by E. Meyrick at BMNH, data captured by Gaeden Robinson.; Freeman 1944Freeman 1944: Freeman, T. N. 1944. A review of the North American species of the genus Argyrotaenia Stephens (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae). Scientific Agriculture. 25: 81-94., 1958
Pseudotsuga menziesii	Pinaceae	Prentice 1966Prentice 1966: Prentice, R. M. 1966. Vol. 4. Microlepidoptera. In : Forest Lepidoptera of Canada recorded by the Forest Insect Survey. Dept. For. Canada Publ. 1142: 543-840.
Tsuga heterophylla	Pinaceae	Prentice 1966Prentice 1966: Prentice, R. M. 1966. Vol. 4. Microlepidoptera. In : Forest Lepidoptera of Canada recorded by the Forest Insect Survey. Dept. For. Canada Publ. 1142: 543-840.

Host plant table (embedded)

View full screen host table here

Distribution

Argyrotaenia pinatubana shares an almost identical range to that of its host plant, distributed across much of the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. It also occurs throughout the central and southern Appalachians. Scattered records throughout the southeastern United States exist, but these are almost always in the vicinity of ornamental white pine.

Links

Additional photos and a distribution map of this species in North America are available at Moth Photographers Group.