Sunday, 1 May 2016

Cydia strobilella.

I have collected Spruce cones from several places in Bucks this spring to see if Cydia strobilella emerges from them. Almost as an after-thought I picked up some from my back garden in Chorleywood. There is only one Spruce tree there and I have never caught this species with my home light-trap. Nevertheless, the bag of cones had only been brought indoors a few days ago but several individuals have already emerged. The caterpillar feeds on the seeds in the cones through autumn into spring. In my experience, once one hatches out the other individuals follow it pretty closely.


Andy King.
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2 comments:

  1. Martin Albertini1 May 2016 at 15:24

    Andy
    This is only the sixth Bucks record (your second). The first record is from 1898 and comes with the comment "frequently reared from spruce cones".
    Hopefully there is still time for others to go and collect some spruce cones before all the moths have emerged.

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    1. Andrew King1 May 2016 at 17:23

      Well, I was a bit surprised by this - particularly as I have not light-trapped any in my garden. But the cones had only been indoors a handful of days so there could not have been much of a warping effect on the emergence-date. So, yes, they should be collecting those cones now.

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