Phthorimaea operculella

TaxID: 192464

Basic Information

Phthorimaea operculella

Kartoffelmè¸l, Potato Tuber Moth, potato tuberworm

Phthorimaea operculella, also known as the potato tuber moth or tobacco splitworm, is a moth of the family Gelechiidae. It is an oligophagous insect that feeds on the plant family Solanaceae and is especially known for being a major pest of potato crops. Currently farmers utilize insecticides, parasites, and sprinkler irrigation in order to prevent P. operculella from infesting their croplands. The potato tuber moth also has a rare oviposition process where the ovipositor contains sensors that pick up on chemical signals given off by the host plant. Therefore, the adult female moth only needs to be within the vicinity of a host plant to lay her eggs.

from Wikipedia

Taxonomic Information

Metazoa

Arthropoda

Insecta

Lepidoptera

Gelechiidae

Phthorimaea

operculella

unclassified

Photos (5 photos)

Phthorimaea operculella
c
(c) Tony Steer@BY-SA
Phthorimaea operculella
c
(c) sarahwood12@BY-NC
Phthorimaea operculella
c
(c) Andrey Ponomarev@BY-NC
Phthorimaea operculella
c
(c) Valter Jacinto@BY-NC-SA
Phthorimaea operculella
c
(c) Andrey Ponomarev@BY-NC

Morphological Features

No morphological description available.

Host Plants (13 host plants)

Data sources: EPPO Global Database and relevant literature.

Page 1 of 2

Quarantine Status (19 records)

Data sources: IPPC website and national quarantine websites; verified by human review.

Country Status Year Added
Armenia Absent —
Azerbaijan Absent 2024
Belarus Present 1994
Cambodia Quarantine pests —
Egypt Disinfected-Admitted —
Georgia Present 2018
Ghana Quarantine pests —
Kazakhstan A1 list 2017
Moldova Quarantine pest 2017
Mexico Quarantine pests 2018
Previous Page 1 of 2

Distribution (120 countries)

Data Sources: EPPO Global Database and GBIF.

103
Present
17
Absent
0
Unknown/Other
Country Status State
Antigua and Barbuda Present —
Albania Present —
Algeria Present —
United Arab Emirates Present —
Argentina Present —
Armenia Present —
Australia Present
Austria Absent —
Burundi Present —
Belgium Present —
Page 1 of 12

Distribution Map (Latitude and longitude coordinates sourced from GBIF.)

Download CSV

Genomes (0 records)

Data source: NCBI.

No genome records available.

Transcriptomes (3 records)

Data source: NCBI.

Run ID Tissue Developmental Stage Sex Read Count Location Actions
SRR27900555 male adult reproductive organs 1 - - 21307927 China: BeiJing
SRR27900554 male adult reproductive organs 2 - - 21204253 China: BeiJing
SRR27900553 male adult reproductive organs 3 - - 21357659 China: BeiJing

DNA Barcodes (0 records)

View all

Data source: BOLD.

No DNA barcode records available.

Literature