''Cnephasia asseclana'', the flax tortrix, is a

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of ...

of the family

Tortricidae The Tortricidae are a family of moths, commonly known as tortrix moths or leafroller moths, in the order Lepidoptera. This large family has over 11,000 species described, and is the sole member of the superfamily Tortricoidea, although the gen ...

. It is found all over

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan ...

is 15–18 mm. Adults are on the wing from June to August. The

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larva, larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterfly, butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawfly ...

s feed on a wide range of

herbaceous plants Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of t ...

and even dry leaves, and can become a

pest Pest or The Pest may refer to: Science and medicine * Pest (organism), an animal or plant deemed to be detrimental to humans or human concerns ** Weed, a plant considered undesirable * Infectious disease, an illness resulting from an infection ** ...

. They initially

mine the leaves A leaf miner is any one of numerous species of insects in which the larval stage lives in, and eats, the leaf tissue of plants. The vast majority of leaf-mining insects are moths ( Lepidoptera), sawflies (Symphyta, the mother clade of wasps ...

. Later they spin together leaves or flowers for

pupation A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in the ...

Taxonomy

The flax tortrix is part of a

cryptic species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each o ...

, and its

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

has been quite confused. For long, it was known as "''C. wahlbomiana''", a name that has led to many misidentifications (see below) until it was finally suppressed in favor of ''C. virgaureana''. That, however, subsequently turned out to refer to the same species as the earlier-described ''C. asseclana'', and thus the latter name became the

senior synonym The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linna ...

. Obsolete scientific names ( junior synonyms and others) of ''C. asseclana'' are: * ''Cnephasia confluens'' Réal, 1952 * ''Cnephasia interjectana'' (Haworth,

811 __NOTOC__ Year 811 ( DCCCXI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Byzantine–Bulgarian War: Emperor Nikephoros I organises a new c ...

* ''Cnephasia latior'' Réal, 1953 * ''Cnephasia mediocris'' Réal, 1953 * ''Cnephasia oleraceana'' (Gibson, 1916) * ''Cnephasia virgaureana'' (Treitschke, 1835) * ''Cnephasia virgaurenana'' (''

lapsus In philology, a lapsus (Latin for "lapse, slip, error") is an involuntary mistake made while writing or speaking. Investigations In 1895 an investigation into verbal slips was undertaken by a philologist and a psychologist, Rudolf Meringer and ...

'') * ''Cnephasia wahlbomiana'' (Linnaeus, 1758) * ''Sciaphila virgaureana'' Treitschke, 1835 * ''Tortrix interjectana'' Haworth,

/small> * ''Tortrix oleraceana'' Gibson, 1916 * ''Tortrix wahlbomiana'' Linnaeus, 1758 "''C. wahlbomiana''" was also variously applied to '' C. alticolana'', '' C. cupressivorana'', '' C. communana'', '' C. genitalana'', and probably othersE.g. '' C. chrysantheana'', '' C. incertana'', '' C. longana'' or '' C. pasiuana'': Chambon (1978) of the ''C. asseclana'' complex. In at least one seminal study, it was even used for ''

Eana derivana ''Eana derivana'' is a species of moth belonging to the family Tortricidae. It is native to Europe. References {{Taxonbar, from=Q13575044 Tortricidae Moths described in 1858 ...

'' as it seems.

Footnotes

References

* (2009)
Online World Catalogue of the Tortricidae
&ndash
''Cnephasia asseclana''
Version 1.3.1. Retrieved 2009-JAN-20. * (1978): Biologie comparée et étude systématique des tordeuses nuisibles du genre ''Cnephasia'' Comparative biology and systematic study of pest tortrix moths of genus ''Cnephasia''" ''Cahiers de liaison de l'OPIE'' 29(2): 4-7

n French N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

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* (2005): Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and some other life forms &ndash

Version of 2005-SEP-14. Retrieved 2010-APR-14. * (1942): Eigenartige Geschmacksrichtungen bei Kleinschmetterlingsraupen Strange tastes among micromoth caterpillars" ''Zeitschrift des Wiener Entomologen-Vereins'' 27: 105-109

n German N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

br>PDF fulltext

External links

UKmoths
asseclana Moths of Europe Moths described in 1775 Insects of Turkey {{Tortricinae-stub