Redbanded leafroller

Argyrotaenia velutinana

The adult RBLR is reddish-brown with lighter markings of silver, grey, and orange. The name of the pest refers to the distinct reddish-brown band extending across the wings, and its habit of rolling, folding, or attaching leaves together. The RBLR measures 6.3 to 9.5 mm (3/8 to 1/4 in.) long. The male is smaller than the female, and has a slender, tubular abdomen with a tuft of hairs at the tip. The female's abdomen is wider than the male's, spindle-shaped, and bluntly rounded at the end.
The first RBLR moths emerge in the spring from overwintered pupae in the ground cover, before or soon after the green-tip stage of apple (early April). This first flight peaks in the tight cluster to pink bud stages. The moths can be found resting on trunks and scaffold limbs, and can sometimes be flushed from the ground cover. The second adult flight occurs from mid-June to mid-July, and the third flight, if it occurs, is from late August to mid September.
Eggs are laid in groups of a few to nearly 150, but a typical egg mass usually contains about 40 eggs deposited in oval patches that measure 3.0 by 5.0 mm ( 1/16 by 3/16 in.). The eggs resemble overlapping scales in the patch, and are pale yellowish or cream colored. Each egg is about 0.8 mm (1/32 in.) in diameter. First brood eggs appear in the pink to early-bloom periods, and are laid primarily on the trunk and scaffold limb bark; hatch coincides with the petal fall stage of apples (mid-May). The summer brood eggs, which are more difficult to find, are laid mostly on the upper surfaces of leaves.
The larva is small, unmarked, and green to pale yellow, depending on the food consumed. The head capsule and thoracic shield (the hardened plate behind the head) are the same color (green to yellow) as the rest of the body. This is important in distinguishing RBLR from other leafrollers, in which the head and thoracic shield are darker than the rest of the body. Newly-emerged larvae are about 1.6 mm (1/16 in.) long; the last larval stage is about 16 mm (5/8 in.) long.
First brood larvae crawl along trunks and limbs in search of leaves to eat; watersprouts are readily accepted as food. Small larvae feed on leaf undersides near the midrib or large veins, and spin a flimsy web, which expands as the larva grows. Larvae are more likely to feed on fruit as they grow. As with the first brood larvae, those of the second brood feed on the undersides of leaves within a web. In late August and early September they begin to move about on the tree and feed more on fruit, and this feeding may continue until October, when they fold a leaf around themselves and pupate within.
Pupae are initially greenish-brown, but later turn a deep brown. They are 9.5 to 12.8 mm (3/8 to 1/2 in.) long. RBLR overwinters as a pupa in a folded leaf in the ground cover, whereas summer brood pupae can be found on the tree in folded leaves or in two leaves fastened together.

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