Classification of pea moth:

• Kingdom:Animalia
• Phylum:Arthropoda
• Class:Insecta
• Order:Lepidoptera
• Suborder:Glossata
• Infraorder:Heteroneura
• Section:Cossina
• Subsection:Cossina
• Superfamily:Tortricoidea
• Family:Tortricidae
• Subfamily:Olethreutinae
• Tribe:Grapholitini
• Genus:Cydia
• Species:C. nigricana
• The Pea Moth (Cydia nigricana) is a moth of the family Tortricidae. It is
found in Europe.
• The wingspan is 12–16 mm. The moth flies from May to July.
• The larvae feed on Pea, Lathyrus and Vicia. The species is considered to be
a pest.
• Pea Moth and Growing Peas:
Cydia nigricana or pea moth will eat the pods of the podded peas including
mangetout as the produce starts to become a mature size. As the pea
moth lays eggs in early summer when the pea plants are in flower, buying
and sowing earlies varieties of peas should reduce this risk.
• Understanding the life cycle of the Pea Moth is key to tackling this pest.
The larvae over-winter in the soil and around may time they begin to
pupate, that is change from larvae to flying moths. So the first defence
against this pest is crop rotation. 
• The moths emerge any time between June and August, the key time is late
June to mid-July. The pea Moths then lay eggs on the foliage of the pea
plants. When the eggs hatch they move to the developing pea pods and
drill a tiny hole in the pod which gives them access to their favourite food,
peas! They live off the peas and in August / September they drill their way
out of the pods and onto the soil where they over-winter ready to turn
into moths next year.
• The second line of defence is to stop the pea Moths from laying eggs on
the foliage. To do this cover the pea plants with light horticultural fleece
from early June until the peas are picked.
• There are chemicals which can be sprayed on the pea plants which will kill
the eggs laid by the moths.
 Pea Moth Pest Control:
The Pea Moth is one of the most annoying of garden pests . From the
outside your pea pods look fine but when you open them up you discover a
repulsive little caterpillar inside !!! Not only has it eaten some of those
deliciously sweet peas but it has also left its excrement in the pod. Crop
rotation , is essential. Species causes damage to pea and lentil, feeding on
grains. The weight of grains decreases. These grains are not suitable for
sowing. The pest can also feed on horse latipudes , chick-pea, lupin , babies'-
slippers, wild vetch and yellow atrophy. Control measures include
forecasting of pest appearance, early sowing of grains, sowing early types,
shortening period between harvesting and threshing, using mixed crops
(with barley), deep under-winter plowing (using plough with coulter),
eradication of weeds, insecticide treatments, and use of Trichogramma
evanescens Westw.
 references
• http://
www.agroatlas.ru/en/content/pests/Laspeyre
sia_nigricana
/
 observation
Day one: when I have started with play and ponder with a caterpillar
of pea moth of size 2.2 cm on 20/01/2011.
Its light green in colour .Feeding continuously on pea.
I kept it in a container of plastic drilled it in several places so that it can
respire . Day two – caterpillar is increased in size and today it measured
2.6 cm. So increased in length of body is 0.4 cm in size. Day three –
caterpillar growing more in size ,measuring 3.2 cm and hence grown 0.6
cm in last 24 hours .It is eating voraciously on pea and some dark white
cottony mass has been developed on some pieces of pea which are
partially eaten by caterpillar.
 Observation
• On day 1 to 3rd caterpillar crawled actively through out the container and from
one pea pod to another.
• Day 4:
• But on day 4th it is not crawling as much as before and its size reduced as
• Body appear contracted . On day 4th it is looking more thicker than it was before.
• Length is 2.8 cm and hence reduced in last 24 hour is 0.4 cm.
• Its not stretching its body much today.
• day 5 :
Caterpillar has become cocoon!!!!!
It stopped eating completely.
Size reduced to 2.1 cm.
Colour changed completely from green to dark brown.
On 6th day cocoon has become more dark in colour than yesterday.
Size reduced to 1.7 cm.
 Observation:
• From day 6 to 13 the cocoon remain same without any change in colour
and it didn’t eat in between these days.
• On 14th day adult emerged from the cocoon !!!!!
• Adult is with two prominent wings and two long antennae.
• Two distinct eyes are present.