About Blastodacna atra (Haworth, 1828)
Blastodacna atra (Haworth, 1828), commonly called the apple pith moth, has a wingspan of 11–13 mm. Its head is white. The forewings are narrow and dark fuscous, with a broad white dorsal streak sprinkled with dark fuscous that runs from the base to the tornus. This streak has a broad triangular indentation at the 2/5 mark, which contains a black scale-tuft. From the apex of the dorsal streak, a slender whitish fascia runs to the costa before the wing apex; it emits a posterior branch in the middle, and sometimes an anterior branch below this. There is an additional black scale-tuft in the disc before the fascia. The hindwings are grey. Adult moths are on wing from May to September in western Europe. The larvae mine inside the young shoots of Malus (apple) species, and can be located by looking for small heaps of frass. Occasionally, infested shoots develop a small swelling, and the young shoot may die off. This moth species is found across most of Europe. It is an introduced species in North America, where it has been recorded from Massachusetts and Ontario.
