Resplendent Shield Bearer: Appearance, Territory, Damage and Life Cycle

Latin Name: Coptodisca Splendoriferella

Appearance: The antenna is fuscous with a golden hue, and the head is bronzy. At around two-thirds, there is a wide, almost straight, metallic, silvery line that continues from the costa to the center of the wing. A prominent black, frequently triangular-shaped, apical patch with a few metallic, silvery scales in its center can be found at the wing tip. It’s surrounded with silvery scales from the cilia above and below. A prominent straight black streak stretches from the apical spot to the cilia’s apex. The cilia range in color from light gray to light yellowish brown, and the hindwing is leaden gray.

Hosts Plants: Apple and Cherry

Territory: Coptodisca Splendoriferella, the radiant shield bearer, is a Heliozelidae moth. It arose from a pupal case discovered on a black cherry tree. It may be found across North America, including California, Ohio, and South Carolina. Coptodisca Splendoriferella (resplendent shield-bearer) has one generation every year in the far north and several in the far south. It has two broods in southern New England and New York, with the first arriving in May and the second in August. Hatching larvae chew through the bottom of the eggs and burrow right into the interior of the leaf, feasting on the delicate tissues.

Damage Insect Cause: Within the leaves, shield bearer larvae chew and eat in a circular pattern. They cause mined foliage to turn transparent when eating. When the larvae reach adulthood, they cut away the epidermal layers between which they feed, producing a circular hole in leaves up to 1/5 inch in diameter. A leaf can have up to a dozen holes, and occasionally the majority of the leaves of a tree or shrub are afflicted. Even large populations of shield carriers, however, do not appear to endanger the survival of otherwise healthy plants.

Life History and Habits: The larval life history of populations in New York and southern New England apple orchards. He saw that the cases are frequently strung from branches on long silk threads and distributed by the breeze. After adhering the case to the substrate, the larvae frequently overwinter on stems, limbs, or tree trunks. They subsequently molt one more time, becoming an orangish larva. Pupation occurs during the spring warm-up, and adults emerge shortly afterwards to begin the first generation. A second generation emerges in late July or early August, producing larvae that overwinter. Several mines are frequently seen on a single leaf.