Carposina rubophaga
Encyclopedia
The New Zealand Raspberry Budmoth (Carposina rubophaga) is a moth
of the Carposinidae
family. It is endemic to New Zealand
.
The wingspan
is 14-17 mm. Adults are very variable, some individuals being very light in colour, others very dark, darkish-brown, or dark grey. One variety has a pair of dark converging lines. The forewings have two conspicuous raised tufts of scales, one lying anteriorly, and a larger one posteriorly with a small tuft between the two. The hindwings are cream-coloured with long hairs posteriorly. The male can usually be distinguished from the female by the long hairs on the end of the abdomen.
The egg is yellowish-green in colour, but changes during development to a yellowish-gold, the area under the spines becoming orange, which, as development continues, spreads till more than hall the egg is coloured.
The larvae are destructive to the buds and fruit of raspberry and blackberry. The first instar larva is about 1 mm long. The head and dorsal portion of the prothorax are dark in colour, the rest of the body is whitish cream. The final instar larva is about 10 mm in length. The under surface is yellowish-green, depending on the amount of food in the alimentary tract.
Moth
A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...
of the Carposinidae
Carposinidae
Carposinidae, the "fruitworm moths" is a family of insects in the lepidopteran order. These moths are narrower winged than Copromorphidae, with less rounded forewing tips. Males often have conspicuous patches of scales on either surface...
family. It is endemic to New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
The wingspan
Wingspan
The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...
is 14-17 mm. Adults are very variable, some individuals being very light in colour, others very dark, darkish-brown, or dark grey. One variety has a pair of dark converging lines. The forewings have two conspicuous raised tufts of scales, one lying anteriorly, and a larger one posteriorly with a small tuft between the two. The hindwings are cream-coloured with long hairs posteriorly. The male can usually be distinguished from the female by the long hairs on the end of the abdomen.
The egg is yellowish-green in colour, but changes during development to a yellowish-gold, the area under the spines becoming orange, which, as development continues, spreads till more than hall the egg is coloured.
The larvae are destructive to the buds and fruit of raspberry and blackberry. The first instar larva is about 1 mm long. The head and dorsal portion of the prothorax are dark in colour, the rest of the body is whitish cream. The final instar larva is about 10 mm in length. The under surface is yellowish-green, depending on the amount of food in the alimentary tract.