Pine Tube Moth (Argyrotaenia pinatubana)

Taxonomy

Domain	Eukarya
Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Arthropoda
Subphylum	Hexapoda
Class	Insecta
Subclass	Pterygota
Infraclass	Neoptera
Superorder	Holometabola
Order	Lepidoptera
Superfamily	Tortricoidea
Family	Tortricidae
Subfamily	Tortricinae
Tribe	Archipini
Genus	Argyrotaenia

Scientific Name

Argyrotaenia pinatubana

Common Name

pine tube moth

Maier, C.T.; Lemmon, C.R.; Fengler, J.M.; Schweitzer, D.F.; Reardon, R.C.; Caterpillars on the Foliage of Conifers in the Northeastern United States. Morgantown, WV. USDA Forest Service. Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. FHTET-2004-01. March 2004. 151 p.

Description

Yellowish green body with orange to yellow brown head marked with dark brown on frons and lobes. Head also with dark brown spot near stemmata and with narrow, horizontal dark bar behind stemmata. Up to 15 mm.

Food

Mainly eastern white pine.

Life Cycle

Two generations. Pupa overwinters in silk-lined tube of needles. Mature caterpillar present mainly in June and July and again in September and October in southern New England.

Comments

The mature caterpillar lives in a silk-lined tube comprised of up to 20 needles that have been webbed together (see below). This species and the jack pine tube moth, Argyrotaenia tabulana, characteristically eat the ends of their tubes, which distinguishes them from other tubemakers on pines. The identity of the food plant is helpful for distinguishing the pine tube moth from the jack pine tube moth.