Native
Proteoteras crescentana Kearfott (Tortricidae: Olethreutinae: Eucosmini)
Common names: northern boxelder twig borer moth, black-crescent Proteoteras
FWL: 7.0-9.0 mm
Head pale gray to pale orange-brown; thorax pale orange-brown; forewing with ground color dark gray, nearly black, rarely lightly suffused with green; fasciaefasciae:
plural of "fascia"
pale gray suffused with dark gray; inner margininner margin:
see dorsum 
and subapical patch often with pale orange-brown shading; distinct, raised patches of scales present; strongly contrasting, dark crescent-shaped mark present from mid-costa to apexapex:
the point furthest removed from the base or at the end of the costal area 
; male without forewing costal foldforewing costal fold:
a flap or fold at the base of the forewing that contains specialized sex scales
but with costal hair pencil on dorsaldorsal:
upper, to the top, on the back 
surface of hindwing faintly margined with black scales on costal edge ; hindwing of both sexes pale brown.
Male genitalia are characterized by a weakly developed uncusuncus:
a sclerotized process which is fused to the posterodorsal margin of tergum IX
; lobe-like sociisocii:
a pair of lightly sclerotized setose lobes
; valvaevalvae:
plural of "valva"
with well-developed cuculluscucullus:
the distal portion of the male valva
and sacculussacculus:
the ventral margin of the male valva 
with two to three large, and flattened setae scarcely longer than regular setae on sacculussacculus:
the ventral margin of the male valva . Female genitalia are characterized by a narrowly grooved lamella postvaginalis, not widening anteriorly and corpus bursaecorpus bursae:
a dilated membranous sac at the anterior end of the bursa copulatrix
with two signasigna:
plural of "signum"
.
FWL: 7.0-9.0 mm
Head pale gray to pale orange-brown; thorax pale orange-brown; forewing with ground color dark gray, nearly black, rarely lightly suffused with green; fasciaefasciae:
plural of "fascia" pale gray suffused with dark gray; inner margininner margin:
see dorsum and subapical patch often with pale orange-brown shading; distinct, raised patches of scales present; strongly contrasting, dark crescent-shaped mark present from mid-costa to apexapex:
the point furthest removed from the base or at the end of the costal area ; male without forewing costal foldforewing costal fold:
a flap or fold at the base of the forewing that contains specialized sex scales but with costal hair pencil on dorsaldorsal:
upper, to the top, on the back surface of hindwing faintly margined with black scales on costal edge; hindwing of both sexes pale brown.
Male genitalia are characterized by a weakly developed uncusuncus:
a sclerotized process which is fused to the posterodorsal margin of tergum IX; lobe-like sociisocii:
a pair of lightly sclerotized setose lobes; valvaevalvae:
plural of "valva" with well-developed cuculluscucullus:
the distal portion of the male valva and sacculussacculus:
the ventral margin of the male valva with two to three large, and flattened setae scarcely longer than regular setae on sacculussacculus:
the ventral margin of the male valva . Female genitalia are characterized by a narrowly grooved lamella postvaginalis, not widening anteriorly and corpus bursaecorpus bursae:
a dilated membranous sac at the anterior end of the bursa copulatrix with two signasigna:
plural of "signum".
The following account is summarized from Wong et al. (1983).
Matura larva approximately 13 mm in length; width of head approximately 1.5 mm; head reddish-brown with darker pigmentation laterally; thoracic shield yellowish-brown with darker pigmentation on laterallateral:
to the side
and posteriorposterior:
after, to the rear, toward anal end 
margins; legs light brown; anal shieldanal shield:
a sclerotized plate on the dorsal surface of the last abdominal segment (in larvae) 
yellowish-brown; body pale, pinaculapinacula:
flattened sclerotized plates on a caterpillar that bear the setae
pale brown, large and distinct; anal fork absent; SV group on A1, 2, 7, 8, 9 typically 3:3:2:2:1.
Pupa 9.0-11.0 mm in length; 1.7-2.8 mm in width; reddish brown.
A complete description of larval chaetotaxychaetotaxy:
the arrangement of setae (in reference to Lepidoptera larvae), often depicted on a "setal map"
and pupa morphology is available in Wong et al. (1983).
Proteoteras crescentana is similar to several other species of Proteoteras, but can be identified by forewing being only faintly tinted with green, the strongly contrasting crescent mark from mid-costa to apexapex:
the point furthest removed from the base or at the end of the costal area , and the dorsaldorsal:
upper, to the top, on the back surface of the male hindwing with only a small amount of black scaling around the costal hair pencil. There are further differences in the male and female genitalia.
The biology of P. crescentana is virtually identical to that of P. aesculana Riley except that larvae of P. crescentana appear to exclusively use boxelder (Acer negundo) and there is a single generation per year, with adults active from late May to mid-July.
| Host plant | Host plant family | Reference(s) |
| Acer negundo | Aceraceae | Heinrich 1923bHeinrich 1923b: Heinrich, C. 1923b. Revision of the North American moths of the subfamily Eucosminae of the family Olethreutidae. Bulletin of the United States National Museum. 123: 1-298.; 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.; Wong et al. 1983Wong et al. 1983: Wong, H. R., Drouin, J. A., Szlabey, D. L., Dang, P. T. 1983. Identification of three species of Proteoteras (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) attacking shoots of Manitoba maple in the Canadian prairies. Canadian Entomologist. 115: 333-339.; Miller 1987aMiller 1987a: Miller, W. E. 1987a. Guide to the Olethreutine moths of midland North America (Tortricidae). USDA Forest Service Agriculture Handbook 660: 1-104.; Solomon 1995Solomon 1995: Solomon, J. D. 1995. Guide to insect borers in North American broadleaf trees and shrubs. Forest Service Agriculture Handbook AH-706, USDA, Washington, D.C. 735 pp. |
| Acer sp. | Aceraceae | Heinrich 1923bHeinrich 1923b: Heinrich, C. 1923b. Revision of the North American moths of the subfamily Eucosminae of the family Olethreutidae. Bulletin of the United States National Museum. 123: 1-298.; 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. |
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P. crescentana is broadly distributed in eastern North America, from Nova Scotia to Alberta, south to Georgia and eastern Texas.
