Native
Exotic, but established
Exotic
Olethreutes Hübner (Tortricidae: Olethreutinae: Olethreutini)
Olethreutes is a large, primarily Holarctic genus comprising approximately 130 described species; about 80 of these species occur in North America.
There are major discrepancies between European and North American concepts of Olethreutes and related genera dating to Heinrich (1926)Heinrich (1926):
Heinrich, C. 1926. Revision of the North American moths of the subfamilies Laspeyresiinae and Olethreutinae. Bulletin of the United States National Museum. 132: 1-216.. Heinrich synonymized several genera, including Argyroploce, Celypha, and Phiaris under Olethreutes, but considered Exartema distinct. European workers ignored these changes while North Americans adopted them.
To add to the confusion, Diakonoff (1973)Diakonoff (1973):
Diakonoff, A. 1973. The Southeast Asia Olethreutini (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae). Zoologische Monographieen van het Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, No. 1, Leiden. E. J. Brill. 700 pp., in his treatment of the Asian fauna, adopted some, but not all, of Heinrich’s generic concepts. For example, he maintained Argyroploce as a synonym of Olethreutes, considered Phiaris a subgenus of Olethreutes, and treated Celypha as a distinct genus. Additionally, Diakonoff synonymized Exartema with Olethreutes.
As a result, there is no globally agreed upon classification scheme for Olethreutes and related genera. On this site, we follow previous North American workers in following a very broad concept of Olethreutes, recognizing that a more stable global taxonomic framework is needed.
Life history information is known for many species of Olethreutes and is often extremely useful in making species identifications, as wing pattern and genitalia tend to be highly homogenous. Larvae in all cases are leaf-tiers or leaf-rollers on a wide variety of deciduous trees and shrubs. Some species are specialists while others are highly polyphagous. Very few species are considered economically significant, but Olethreutes malana can be an occasional pest of apple (Malus spp.) (Chapman & Lienk 1971).
Species identification for many species is notoriously difficult due to high numbers interspecific similarities in both forewing pattern and genitalia. Males of many species have a lobed extension on the anal angleanal angle:
on the hind wing, the angle nearest the end of the abdomen when the wings are expanded 
of the hindwing. The forewing fasciaefasciae:
plural of "fascia"
of many species is complex and often confluent, making even wing pattern element terminology difficult. Males of most species possess a moderately-developed uncusuncus:
a sclerotized process which is fused to the posterodorsal margin of tergum IX
with a broad base, a deeply invaginated ventralventral:
lower, to the bottom, on the under side
lobe of the valvavalva:
an appendage flanking the intromittent organ that is used to clasp the female during copulation 
with a finger-like extension referred to as the digitus. The location and number of spines along the valvavalva:
an appendage flanking the intromittent organ that is used to clasp the female during copulation can be taxonomically useful, but interspecific differences can be subtle. Female genitalia are characterized by variable-shaped indentations or lobes on the sterigmasterigma:
the sclerotized region surrounding the female ostium bursae 
on either side of the ostiumostium:
see ostium bursae 
. The signumsignum:
a sclerotized projection or patch on the interior of the corpus bursae
, when present, consists of a single scobinatescobinate:
rasplike
patch.
We figure some of the most commonly-encountered species here, taking care to show examples of the high diversity of wing patterns present in the genus. Olethreutes is one of the most commonly-encountered and speciose genera of Tortricidae in North America, so it is likely that they will be encountered in routine monitoring surveys, regardless of their low pest status.
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