Blastodacna libanotica Diakonoff
Systematic position: Insecta, Holometabola, Lepidoptera, Agonoxenidae.
(Sometimes placed in the families Cosmopterigidae or Elachistidae).
Morphology: Adult forewings with a pale anterior stripe and a whitish triangular mark at mid-wing. Hindwings very narrow, with long fringes. Larvae 5-6 mm in length, head dark-brown, body with whitish and brown parts. Thoractic legs and prolegs with a dark brown posterior band on each segment.
Distribution: Lebanon and Turkey.
Host plants: Species of Pyrus, espcially pear, sometimes also on Crataegus.
Life history: In late spring the females oviposit on new shoots, and the feeding of the young larvae results in the formation of galls. Several galls can be found on a single twig. Development continues during summer, the pest pupating and hibernating in the late fall. The adults emerge next spring, the pest thus being monovoltine.
Economic importance: Blastodacna libanotica is a minor pest of pears. Its damage is seen when the main shoot of cultivated pear trees is infested, growth is retarded, and there is an increased development of lateral shoots. Heavily infested branches of some wild pear trees are completely withered, which could cause the death of small trees.
Horticultural control: Removing the galls and burning them.
Biological control: The only natural enemy of this pest so far reported is a species of Lissonota (Ichneumonidae), in Syria. Occasionally parasitism rates reached 75%.
References
Diakonoff, A. 1939. Notes on Microlepidoptera. III. A new species of Blastodacna Wocke from Syria (Fam. Cosmopterygidae). Tijschrift voor Entomologie 82: 78-80.
Koster, S.J.C., Ozbek, H., Aslan, I. and Rutten T.L.M. Blastodacna libanotica Diakonoff, 1939 – a pest on pear in Turkey (Agonoxenidae). Nota lepidopterologica 27: 33–40.
Talhouk, A.S. 1948. A note on Blastodacna libanotica Dkff. (Lepidoptera: Cosmopterigidae). Bulletin de la Societe “Fouad 1er” d`Entomologie Cairo 32: 41-45.
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