48.007 BF389

Apple Leaf Skeletonizer Choreutis pariana

(Clerck, 1759)

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Wingspan 11-15 mm.

So-called because of the larva's habit of eating away the parenchyma from the upper surface of leaves of the foodplant, resulting in a skeleton leaf appearance. The main chosen foodplant is crab-apple (Malus spp.) but other roseaceous trees are sometimes used too. The larva lives under a silken web.

The moths fly in two generations, firstly in July and then in September, when the species overwinters and may appear again in early spring.

Distributed widely over much of Britain, the species can be locally common when it can be a pest; in other locations it is scarce.