Moths of North Carolina
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20 NC Records

Zeiraphera claypoleana (Riley, 1882) - Buckeye Petiole Borer Moth


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Taxonomy
Superfamily: Tortricoidea Family: TortricidaeSubfamily: OlethreutinaeTribe: EucosminiP3 Number: 621141.00 MONA Number: 3238.00
Identification
Field Guide Descriptions: Online Photographs: MPG, BugGuide, iNaturalist, Google, BAMONA, GBIF, BOLDTechnical Description, Adults: Forbes, 1923.Technical Description, Immature Stages: Lintner, 1897.                                                                                  
Adult Markings: The following description is from Forbes (1923). The forewing is pale brownish gray and shaded heavily with sage green. The inner half towards the base is green and has a well-defined outer boundary that is crossed by a black dash which fades out at the base. A black bar is present at the base of the inner margin. A green shade occurs from the tip of the basal area to below the apex, and is crossed by one from the middle of the costa almost to the anal angle. Both are irregular and diffuse, and shaded with blackish where they meet. The blackish area extends outwardly almost to the outer margin. The hindwing is mouse gray with a pale fringe. The adult patterning is variable and can include varying mixtures of whitish, black, and greenish coloration. One color morph has a broad black zone that extends along the inner margin from the wing base to about two-thirds. Many of our records are based on larvae that feed in buckeye petioles and cause leaf wilting. Proteoteras aesculana also feeds on buckeyes and can cause leaf wilting, so care should be taken to carefully inspect the position of bore holes in order to not confuse the two.
Wingspan: 12-16 mm (Solomon, 1995)
Forewing Length: 6.0-8.5 mm (Gilligan et al., 2008)
Adult Structural Features: The male genitalia have not been described in detail, but are pictured in Gilligan et al. (2008). The sex-scaling is present on the parts of the forewing and hindwing which overlap, but it is concolorous and hardly visible (Forbes, 1923).
Adult ID Requirements: Identifiable from good quality photos of unworn specimens.
Immatures and Development: The larva creates an entrance hole in the petiole of a buckeye or maple and bores along its length. This occurs during or shortly after the leaf is fully expanded and causes the leaf to wilt. The yellowish-brown frass is initially deposited inside the petiole, but later instars characteristically deposit frass outside the entrance hole in the petiole. The larva eventually leaves the petiole and feeds externally on the withered leaflets, or rarely on the buckeye flowers (Litner, 1897). The withered leaflets and larva eventually fall to the ground where pupation occurs either within the rolled leaflets or on the ground proper (Litner, 1897; Gilligan et al., 2008). The adults that Eiseman (2019) reared on buckeye completed their development within the petioles. The adults emerge within several weeks after pupating. When feeding on maples, the leaf blade and part of the petiole drop to the ground, while the larva continues to feed in the portion that remains attached to the twig (Eiseman, 2019). The head and prothoracic shield of the larvae are amber-colored, while the abdomen varies from light brownish-yellow to dull white.
Larvae ID Requirements: Identifiable from good quality photos, especially where associated with known host plants.
Distribution in North Carolina
Distribution: Zeiraphera claypoleana occurs in the eastern US, and is most abundant in an area that extends from Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia southward to eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina. Scattered populations have been reported from Iowa, Missouri, Texas, and northern Florida (MPG; BugGuide; Solomon 1995). As of 2023 our North Carolina records are from lower to middle elevation sites in the mountains where it feeds on Yellow Buckeye, and from the Piedmont (recently discovered in 2023) where it feeds on Painted Buckeye.
County Map: Clicking on a county returns the records for the species in that county.
Flight Dates:
 High Mountains (HM) ≥ 4,000 ft.
 Low Mountains (LM) < 4,000 ft.
 Piedmont (Pd)
 Coastal Plain (CP)

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