The leaf and stem mines of British flies and other insects
 

(Coleoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera and Lepidoptera)

by Brian Pitkin, Willem Ellis, Colin Plant and Rob Edmunds

  

Liriomyza puella (Meigen, 1830)
[Diptera: Agromyzidae]

Liriomyza puella (Meigen, 1830).

Leaf-miner: Elongated upper-surface blotch, preceded by a corridor (exceptionally, visible in the picture, as a long lower-surface corridor). Primary and secondary feeding lines conspicuous. Older mines quickly turn brown. Pupation outside the mine (Bladmineerders van Europa).

The mine starts as a corridor which quickly broadens into a blotch, which appears dark with white borders. It is intitially circular or slightly elongated but becomes irregular as the mine matures. The larva is shown and feeding lines are also visible. The mine quickly turns brown and pupation is ouside the mine. The adult was bred and emerged on 10.vii.2017. First discovered in the UK in 2010 (Godfray, 2011) (British leafminers).

Liriomyza puella
Mine of Liriomyza puella on Lapsana communis
Image: (Bladmineerders van Europa)

Larva: The larvae of flies are leg-less maggots without a head capsule (see examples). They never have thoracic or abdominal legs. They do not have chewing mouthparts, although they do have a characteristic cephalo-pharyngeal skeleton (see examples), usually visible internally through the body wall.

Described by de Meijere (1925a) and Beiger (1960b, as mycelis); front spiraculum with 9, rear spiraculum with 3, equally sized, papillae (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Puparium: The puparia of flies are formed within the hardened last larval skin or puparium and as a result sheaths enclosing head appendages, wings and legs are not visible externally (see examples).

Described by Beiger (1960b, as mycelis) (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Hosts in Great Britain and Ireland:

Cannabaceae        
Lapsana communis Nipplewort British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. British leafminers

Hosts elsewhere:

Asteraceae        
Cichorium intybus Chicory British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Lapsana communis Nipplewort British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Mycelis muralis Wall Lettuce British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Prenanthes purpurea Nipplewort British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa

Time of year - mines: June-July; August (British leafminers).

Time of year - adults: Currently unknown.

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: UK (Godfray, 2011), Norfolk (James Emerson, pers. com.) and Yorkshire (British leafminers).

Distribution elsewhere: From Sweden to the Iberian Peninsula and Austria, and from France to Poland (Fauna Europaea, 2008); also Britain (Godfray, 2011a), Slovenia (Maček, 1999a) and Bulgaria (Buhr, 1941b) (Bladmineerders van Europa)

NBN Atlas links to known host species:

Cichorium intybus, Lapsana communis, Mycelis muralis, Prenanthes purpurea

British and Irish Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere: Unknown.

External links: Search the internet:

Biodiversity Heritage Library
Bladmineerders van Europa
British leafminers
Fauna Europaea
NBN Atlas
NHM UK Checklist

 Find using Google
Find using Google Scholar
Find images using Google

XHTML Validator Last updated 13-May-2018 Brian Pitkin Top of page