Pest Profile

Photo credit: Erik J. van Nieukerken-Nauturalis, link CreativeCommons - Attribution Non-Commercial

Common Name: Madrone Shield Bearer, Paper punch miner

Scientific Name: arbutiella Busck

Order and Family: ,

Size and Appearance:

Length (mm) Appearance Egg  yellowish eggs  poorly known  inserted singly beneath the bark of a twig or directly into a leaf or petiole /Nymph  dark head 4.0 – 6.0 mm  yellow or whitish body 0.11 – 0.32 mm (head  flattened capsule)  legless  the pronotum and anal plate may be brownish or black Adult  tiny silver 5.0 – 5.4 mm (wingspan)  forewing has silver and black markings on a white and yellow background Pupa (if applicable)  constructed from the leaf cutting disks after ± 6.3 mm (leaf disk) mining 1.0 – 4.0 mm (pupae)  “shield bearers”  pupae cuticle is thin and transparent  sculpture is smooth and setae visible  head are smoothly rounded  short antennae  cylindrical scape

Type of feeder (Chewing, sucking, etc.): Chewing (larvae)

Host plant/s: Include a variety of hardwood trees and bushes. Larvae of several species of shield bearers feed entirely within the leaves of apple, cottonwood, crape myrtle, oak, madrone, manzanita, poplar, and strawberry trees.

Description of Damage (larvae and adults): Coptodisca females pierce the underside of a leaf to lay eggs within the leaf. The larvae form mines in the host leaves by eating out the tissue between the upper and lower epidermis. The larvae make serpentine leaf mines in the beginning and then make blotch mines in later instars. When mature, the larvae cut a disc of tissue out of the leaf, approximately 0.25-inch long, and uses it to form a cocoon. Abandoned mines with small oval holes are characteristic of the leaf damage caused by these larvae. High populations can cause leaves to develop numerous holes and infested leaves may become partially necrotic and drop prematurely.

References:

Bernardo, U., Sasso, R., Gebiola, M. and Viggiani, G. (2012), First record of a walnut shield bearer Coptodisca (Lepidoptera: Heliozelidae) in Europe. Journal of Applied Entomology, 136: 638–640. doi: 10.1111/j.1439-0418.2011.01693.x

Heiman, M. J. (2014, July 13). Species Coptodisca arbutiella - Hodges#0255. Retrieved from https://bugguide.net/node/view/956591

Heppner, J.B. (2008). Shield Bearer Moth (Lepidoptera: Heliozelidae) in J.L Capinera Encyclopedia of Entomology, (pp 3369-3370), Springer Netherlands. Accessed on January 26, 2016 at http://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-1-4020-6359-6_4169

Lafontaine J.D., (1974), A new species of Coptodisca (Heliozelidae) from Mississippi on farkleberry (Vaccinium arboreum). J. Lepid. Soc. 28, 126–130.

Maier, T, C. (1988) Life Cycle of Coptodisca negligens (Lepidoptera: Heliozelidae) on Cranberry. Department of Entomology. The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven, Connecticut 06504. Entomological Society of America 0022-0493/88/0497-0500802/0 https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Chris_Maier3/publication/233547086_Life_Cycle_of_Cop todisca_negligens_Lepidoptera_Heliozelidae_on_Cranberry/links/56e80ef908aec65cb45e818a/ Life-Cycle-of-Coptodisca-negligens-Lepidoptera-Heliozelidae-on-Cranberry.pdf

Shield bearers—Coptodisca spp. (2014) in How to Manage Pests - Pests in Gardens and Landscapes. Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California. Accessed on January 26, 2016 at http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/GARDEN/PLANTS/INVERT/shfollagemin.html

Torrance, A, I, L. (2016) The Bio-Ecology of the Cape Grapevine Leafminer, capensis (Lepidoptera: Heliozelidae), in the Western Cape. AgriScience at Stellenbosch University. http://scholar.sun.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10019.1/98322/torrance_bioecology_2016.pdf?sequ ence=1&isAllowed=y