page_title: Codling moth
section_title: Caterpillar
hierarchical_section_title: Codling moth / Reproduction and life history / Life history stages / Caterpillar
caption_attribution_description: English: Cydia pomonella. Pupa. Museum specimen
context_page_description: The codling moth is a member of the Lepidopteran family Tortricidae. They are major pests to agricultural crops, mainly fruits such as apples and pears. Because the larvae are not able to feed on leaves, they are highly dependent on fruits as a food source and thus have a significant impact on crops. The caterpillars bore into fruit and stop it from growing, which leads to premature ripening. Various means of control, including chemical, biological, and preventive, have been implemented. This moth has a widespread distribution, being found on six continents. Adaptive behavior such as diapause and multiple generations per breeding season have allowed this moth to persist even during years of bad climatic conditions.
context_section_description: When the caterpillar first hatches from the egg, it is about 2 mm long and 0.5 mm in diameter. The body is divided up into twelve segments, and the color is usually pale yellow. As the caterpillar undergoes development through five instar phases, it grows to become 18–20 mm long and more reddish in color. By the time the caterpillars are fully grown, they are light brown in color and have dark brown spots. The sex of the moth is determined during the larval stage. The karyotype of codling moths has shown a diploid system (2n=56), which means the offspring receives two sets of chromosome, one from each parent. Females have a WZ sex chromosome system, while males have ZZ. Males have two brown spots near the end of the dorsal side, which become the gonads.
  The eggs can hatch at night or day, depending on humidity. Because direct sunlight can dry up the caterpillar and increases the temperature, the caterpillar moves into a shade or crawls to the bottom of the leaf if it hatches during the day. The eggs are glued onto the leaf by the sticky substance secreted by the female, but the caterpillars are small and light enough to be washed away by rain or blown off the tree by wind. Especially because the caterpillars are so small when they first emerge from the egg, they are more susceptible to rainy summers, and data have shown that crops were attacked less by the moths in rainy summers.
caption: Pupa
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