pallid leafroller moth

not listed

NNR - Unranked

SNR - Unranked

not listed

Pallid leafroller moth is a common small moth. It occurs across the United States and southern Canada, but it is uncommon to rare or absent in the deep south and the southwest U.S.

The larvae feed mainly on alfalfa and yellow sweet clover, but also on apple, annual fleabane, aster, bastard toadflax, black cherry, chokecherry, clover, common St. Johnswort, eastern white pine, elm, goldenrod, jack pine, New England aster, red pine, rose, rosinweed, sandcherry, Scots pine, strawberry, vervain, white spruce, and wild bergamot. Adults are active in Minnesota from June through September.

Adults are entirely pale yellow, cream colored, or light brown. They have a ⅞″ (22 mm) wingspan. Moth size is sometimes given in terms of forewing length, which for this moth is 5⁄16″ to 9⁄16″ (8.5 to 14 mm).

The head and thorax are pale but are darker than the wings.

The forewings are entirely pale, but they are slightly darker at the base. They have no markings. The leading edge (costal margin) is broadly rounded on the forward half. The outer margin is rounded. Males do not have a costal fold on the forewing.

The hindwings are very pale yellowish.

Wingspan: ⅞″ (22 mm)

Two generations per year: June through September in Minnesota

Adults are active at night and will come to lights.

The female lays a mass of eggs on the upper surface of a leaf.

The early stage (instar) larva folds over an edge of a leaf and secures it with silk, creating a chamber in which it lives and feeds. The middle instar creates a structure (hibernaculum) within the chamber and overwinters in it. It emerges in the spring and continues feeding. The final instar pupates at its last feeding site.

Leaves of aster, alfalfa, apple, bastard toadflax, black cherry, chokecherry, clover, common St. Johnswort, eastern daisy, eastern white pine, elm, goldenrod, jack pine, New England aster, red pine, rose, rosinweed, sandcherry, Scots pine, strawberry, vervain, white spruce, wild bergamot, yellow sweetclover

Sources

4, 21, 29, 30, 75, 82, 83.

Common

Xenotemna pallorana

Xenotemna pallorana, pallid leafroller moth, photographed at Barnes Prairie, Racine Co., WI on August 30, 2020. Moth was on a goldenrod sp. leaf.

Location: Barnes Prairie, Racine Co., WI

Costaconvexa centrostrigaria, bent lined carpet, on the door to the house, Barnes Prairie, Racine Co., Wisconsin. Photo was taken on October 27, 2022.