live until the following spring. Although most important as a pest of apple orchards, 
this species is capable of seriously defoliating oak during outbreaks. 
The juniper webworm, D. marginella (F.), an introduced species, occurs in 
many Eastern and Western States and in southern Canada. Its hosts include various 
species of Juniperus, such as Irish juniper, common juniper, and eastern redcedar. 
The adult is brownish with white front and rear margins of the forewings, and has a 
wingspread of 15 mm. Full-grown larvae are light brown and from 12 to 15 mm 
long. 
Adults are present during June and July, and deposit their eggs in leaf axils of new 
growth. Newly hatched larvae feed first as needleminers, entering the upper surface 
of the needle near the axil. Mined needles turn brown and die. Dead needles are 
incorporated in webbing constructed between branchlets. Larvae continue to use 
mined needles as protective retreats while developing. During July, larvae crawl 
from primary mined needles and feed on adjacent needles, eventually constructing 
silken tubes leading from holes in the mined needles to other nearby needles. The 
webbed area is expanded from July to September. Entire trees up to 2.4 m tall may 
be completely webbed (fig. 44). Winter is spent in the larval stage in a silken case. 
The larvae resume feeding in the spring, becoming full grown and pupating from 
mid-May to early June (939). Trees grown as ornamentals or in permanent plantings 
may be seriously damaged by this species. Cutting and removing webbed masses of 
foliage is a helpful control practice. 
The redbud leaffolder, Fascista cercerisella (Chambers), feeds on redbud from 
Delaware and Maryland to Illinois and southward. The adult is velvety black except 
for its white head and a white collar. The forewings are slightly bronzed and marked 
with three costal spots and several white terminal points. The larvae feed on leaves 
which they web together. There are at least two generations per year. 
Battaristis vittella (Busck) is widely distributed throughout the Eastern United 
States and southern Canada. It has been reared from the buds of Swiss mountain 
pine; from the cones of Scotch, Austrian, and longleaf pines; and from galls of 
midges on loblolly pine. The adult has bright-red eyes, the forewings are cinnamon 
brown and traversed by gray bands, and the wingspread is 8 to 10 mm. Mature 
larvae are slender and from 4 to 6 mm long. Winter is spent in the larval stage in a 
tunnel in a bud or cone. Pupation occurs in the spring, and adults appear by May. 
Superfamily Yponomeutoidae—Family Plutellidae 
Plutellids 
The plutellids loosely web leaves together. The mimosa webworm, Homadaula 
anisocentra Meyrick, an introduced species first reported in the United States at 
Washington, D.C., in 1942, is now widely distributed from New Jersey and 
Pennsylvania southward to Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi, and westward to 
Kansas and Nebraska. Its host trees are silktree and honeylocust. The adult has a 
wingspread of about 12 mm. The forewings are mouse gray, except for a silvery 
luster and a stippling of black. Full-grown larvae are pale green to dark brown, are 
marked with five longitudinal white lines, and are about 12 mm long. Pupae are 
yellowish brown and about 6 mm long. They are found in whitish, silken cocoons. 
The pupae generally overwinter in the soil or in other protected places. Adults 
appear by June, and the female deposits her eggs on flowers or foliage, or on the 
bark of small branches and twigs. Egg laying continues throughout the season. First 
and second instars spin webs around flowers and leaves, within which they live and 
feed (fig. 45). Adjacent surfaces of webbed leaves may be skeletonized, turn brown, 
and die. Older larvae feed on the tender, terminal leaves. Pupae of this generation 
138 
