Leaf-miner: Initially
a lower epidermal gallery which leads to a blotch at the leaf-edge.
Subsequently creates two or three cones by folding the edge or tip
of a leaf downwards (British
leafminers).
The
mine begins with an unusually long lower-surface epidermal corridor
that often follows the midrib for some distance, but finally turns
towards the leaf margin, where a small blotch is made of up to 1
cm in diameter. The blotch initially is fully epidermal, but later
the larva starts consuming parenchyma, silk is deposited, and the
blotch begins to develop into a somewhat contracted tentiform mine.
In the end the mine is vacated and the larva continues living freely
under a leaf fold that has been fixed with silk, or in a leaf tip
that has been turned into a cone. Pupation in a shiny cocoon at
the underside of the leaf (Bladmineerders van Europa).
Larva: The larvae of moths have a head capsule and chewing mouthparts with opposable mandibles (see video of a gracillarid larva feeding), six thoracic legs and abdominal legs (see examples).
The larva is illustrated in UKMoths and Bladmineerders van Europa.
Pupa: The pupae of moths have visible head appendages, wings and legs which lie in sheaths (see examples).
Beneath a silken membrane on underside of leaf (British
leafminers). The pupa lies in a vitreous cocoon, in an under-surface fold of the leaf, that is covered with a parchment-like membrane. See Patočka and Zach (1995a) (Bladmineerders van Europa.
Adult:
The adult is illustrated in UKMoths and the Encyclopedia
of Life. The species is included in mothdissection.co.uk.
Hosts in Great Britain and Ireland:
Hosts
elsewhere:
Time
of year - larvae: July-September (British
leafminers).
Time
of year - adults: Late June and July, and again from September
onwards (UKMoths).
Distribution
in Great Britain and Ireland: Fairly common throughout Britain
including Lancashire (Littleborough) (UKMoths);
Anglesey, Bedfordshire, Breconshire, Caenarvonshire, Cambridgeshire, Carmarthenshire,
Cheshire,
Cumberland, Denbighshire, Derbyshire, Dorset, Dumfriesshire, Durham, East Cornwall, East Norfolk,
East Ross, East Suffolk, East Sussex, East Sutherland, Easterness, Fife, Glamorgan, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire,
Huntingdonshire, Isle of Wight, Kincardineshire, Kirkudbrightshire, Leicestershire, Merionethshire, Middlesex, Monmouthshire,
Montgomeryshire, North Devon, North Ebudes, North Essex, North Hampshire, North Northumberland, North Somerset, North Wiltshire, Pembrokeshire,
Radnorshire, Shropshire, South Aberdeenshire, South Devon, South Hampshire,
South Lancashire, South Northumberland, South Wiltshire, South-east Yorkshire, South-west Yorkshire, Stafford,
Surrey, Warwickshire, West Cornwall, West Gloucestershire, West Lancashire, West Norfolk, West Suffolk, West Sussex, Westmorland, Wigtownshire and
Worcestershire (NBN
Atlas),
the Channel Is. (Fauna Europaea).
See also British
leafminers distribution map.
Also
recorded in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (Fauna Europaea and National Biodiversity Data Centre Map).
Distribution
elsewhere: Widespread in continental Europe including Austria,
Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Corsica, Croatia, Czech Republic,
Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Hungary,
Italian mainland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg,
Macedonia, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Portuguese mainland, Romania,
Russia - Central, East, North, Northwest and South, Sardinia, Slovakia,
Spanish mainland, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands and Ukraine
(Fauna Europaea).
NBN Atlas links to known host species:
Myrica
gale, Populus
alba, Populus
candicans, Populus
x canescens, Populus
nigra, Populus
tremula, Salix
alba, Salix
aurita, Salix
babylonica, Salix
caprea, Salix
cinerea, Salix
daphnoides, Salix
elaeagnos, Salix
fragilis, Salix
lanata, Salix
matsudana, Salix
myrsinifolia, Salix
pentandra, Salix
phylicifolia, Salix
purpurea, Salix
repens, Salix
x stipularis, Salix
triandra, Salix
udensis, Salix
viminalis |
British and Irish Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere:
Chalcidoidea |
|
Dimmockia brevicornis (Erdös, 1954) |
Eulophidae: Eulophinae |
Sympiesis dolichogaster Ashmead, 1888 |
Eulophidae: Eulophinae |
Pteromalus semotus (Walker, 1834) |
Pteromalidae: Pteromalinae |
Ichneumonoidea - Links to species no longer available |
|
Apanteles xanthostigma (Haliday, 1834) |
Braconidae: Microgastrinae |
Anomalon variegatus (Jurine, 1807) |
Ichneumonidae: Anomaloninae |
Diadegma duplicatum Horstmann, 1980 |
Ichneumonidae: Campopleginae |
Diadegma stigmatellae Horstmann, 1980 |
Ichneumonidae: Campopleginae |
Hyposoter virginalis (Gravenhorst, 1829) |
Ichneumonidae: Campopleginae |
Diaglyptidea conformis (Gmelin, 1790) |
Ichneumonidae: Cryptinae |
Campodorus variegatus (Jurine 1807) |
Ichneumonidae: Euryproctinae |
Itoplectis alternans (Gravenhorst, 1829) |
Ichneumonidae: Pimplinae |
Scambus inanis (Schrank, 1802) |
Ichneumonidae: Pimplinae |
|