| Pine bud moth | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Illustration from John Curtis's British Entomology Volume 6 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Tortricidae |
| Genus: | Blastesthia |
| Species: | B. turionella |
| Binomial name | |
| Blastesthia turionella | |
| Synonyms | |
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Blastesthia turionella, the pine bud moth, is a moth of the family Tortricidae. It is found from Europe to eastern Russia, China (Inner Mongolia), Korea and Japan. [1] In the mountains, it occurs to elevations of up to 1,200 meters above sea level.
The wingspan is 14–21 mm. In warm areas, adults are on wing from mid-April to the beginning of May. Males emerge three to five days prior to the females. The flight period lasts four to six weeks.
The larvae feed on Pinus sylvestris , Pinus mugo , Pinus nigra and Pinus contorta . It has also been recorded from Abies alba . If there is a serious outbreak, all buds in the upper parts of the crown of the host plant are destroyed. Outbreaks usually occur on large-scale monocultures of pine trees in flat country. Economic damage is reported from north-western Europe, Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland.
