• This Quick scan was prompted by the interception of the slug moth Monema flavescens on plants for planting by the Netherlands. 

• The species is absent from the EU but can likely establish in large parts of the EU. 

• Larvae of M. flavescens feed on leaves of various broadleaf tree species including fruit tree species and can defoliate trees. 

• In 2004, a Pest Risk Analysis (PRA) of M. flavescens (syn. Cnidocampa flavescens) was made for the Netherlands. At that time, it was concluded that the organism should not be listed as a quarantine pest because of “lack of information on significant damage levels and the fact that defoliation is only expected from September onwards [in the Netherlands]”. 

• In the United States where M. flavescens has been introduced more than a century ago, it still seems an unimportant pest or has even become a rare species which may (partly) be due to the introduction of a parasitoid in 1929-1930.

• Several papers have been published since 2004 in which M. flavescens is considered a serious pest of various deciduous trees in urban areas in China and South Korea and in fruit crops in China. It seems more an occasional pest in fruit crops in South Korea. Damage by M. flavescens has been reported to increase in China. Limited quantitative information has been found but in one paper fruit losses of 3.1 million euro have been mentioned for the Xinjiang autonomous region in China . 

• If M. flavescens were to become established in the EU, it will probably cause leaf damage to urban trees and fruit trees but the level of damage is highly uncertain. More damage may occur in warmer regions where leaf damage is expected to occur earlier in the season than in cooler regions .