Gooseberry Fruitworm

(Zophodia convolutella), a butterfly of the family Pyralididae, a dangerous pest of the goose-berry and currants. The wingspread is 28-32 mm; the anterior wings are gray with whitish horizontal stripes and a rounded brown spot; the posterior wings are light brown with a white fringe.

The gooseberry fruitworm is found in North America and some countries of Europe. In the USSR it occurs in the middle and northern zones. There is one generation per year. The flight of the gooseberry fruitworm begins during the budding period of the gooseberry and continues for two to three weeks. The butter-flies deposit their eggs inside the flowers (more rarely on the underside of young leaves); caterpillars hatch out of these in five to nine days, spin a web around the berries, and penetrate them, eating out the seeds and part of the flesh. The pest harms the gooseberry more than any other crop.

Control measures include careful working of the soil between rows and under the shrubs, mulching, and treating infected shrubs with insecticides immediately after flowering.