Tortricidae

Pohl, Greg, Anweiler, Gary, Schmidt, Christian & Kondla, Norbert, 2010, An annotated list of the Lepidoptera of Alberta, Canada, ZooKeys 38 (38), pp. 1-549 : 95-96

37. Tortricidae – tortricid moths

A diverse family of moths with stout, often down-turned palps, an unscaled proboscis, and broad wings. Most adults are crepuscular or nocturnal. Larvae are leafrollers or leaftiers, or bore in stems, bark, seeds, and fruit. Th is is a large, diverse group with many pest species.

Despite the economic importance of the tortricids, their taxonomy is not well known. A world catalog was published recently ( Brown 2005), but the higher taxonomy of the group is not settled. Th e list here follows the scheme presented by Razowski (2008), who provided an excellent morphological overview. Adults of some groups are extremely variable, often with more external variation between color morphs of a species than exists between species. Identification often requires genitalic dissection. Approximately 6000 species of tortricids are known worldwide; 1289 species are known in North America, of which 382 are reported from AB.

37.1. Tortricinae

Mostly small, but ranging from minute to medium-sized (8–35 mm wingspan) moths with the characteristics of the family, as described above. The antennae have two rings of scales per antennal segment (except in the tribe Sparganothidini ). The forewings are generally more broad basally than is the case for other tortricids. Some members of the tribe Archipini (bell moths) have sinuate forewings and are bell shaped when at rest. Larvae of most species are leafrollers; those of the Cochylini are seed, flower, and stem borers, and a few of the Euliini are litter feeders. A few species of the Archipini feed colonially inside large webbed nests. Many species are serious pests of crops and trees, including the Oblique-banded Leafroller ( Choristoneura rosaceana ), the Spruce Budworm and related species (the Choristoneura fumiferana complex), the Large Aspen Tortrix ( Choristoneura conflictana ), and the Omnivorous Leafroller ( Archips purpurana ).

The Tortricinae , as it is presently delineated, is probably a paraphyletic group. It includes the Cochylini , which until recently was considered a separate family. At present approximately 2650 species of Tortricinae are known worldwide. Four hundred and twenty-four species are known from North America, 126 of which are reported in AB. Taxonomic knowledge of the Tortricinae is variable. Razowski (2002) provided information on many Holarctic and introduced species. Almost all of the Tortricini were covered by Razowski (1966); a few species were illustrated better by Obraztsov (1963) and Razowski (2008). Th e North American Cochylini are not covered very well by modern published literature, although some species were treated by Razowski (1984, 1991, 1997) and Sabourin et al. (2002). A major revision of the group, by E. Metzler and J. Brown, is currently under way. Th e Cnephasiini have been covered as follows: Eana ( Obraztsov 1962a) , Cnephasia ( Mutuura 1982a) , and Decodes ( Powell 1980) . The Archipini have been treated as a group by Freeman (1958). The genera Aphelia ( Obraztsov 1959) , Archepandemis ( Mutuura 1978) , Argyrotaenia ( Powell 1960; Obraztsov 1961), Choristoneura ( Dang 1985, 1992), Lozotaenia ( Powell 1962b) , and Clepsis ( Razowski 1979a, 1979b) have all been treated more recently. Th e Sparganothidini are poorly known, although some groups within this tribe have been covered by Powell (1985, 1986). Most of the Euliini have been treated by Brown and Powell (1991, 2000) and Razowski and Becker (2000). In an unpublished thesis, Lambert (1950) treated many species, but some species concepts have changed since then. Although theirs was not a thorough systematic treatment, Pogue and Lavigne (1981) provided useful illustrations and biological information on many species of Tortricinae .