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

 

Ectoedemia rubivora (Wocke, 1860)
[Lepidoptera: Nepticulidae]

Dewberry Pigmy


Nepticula rubivora Wocke, 1860. Jahrsb. Scless. Ges.: 132.
Ectoedemia rubivora
(Wocke, 1860).


Leaf-miner: A contorted gallery with dispersed frass, leading to a blotch (British leafminers).

Egg at the underside of the leaf. The mine is a highly contorted gallery, strongly widening towards the end. Frass in the second half of the gallery dispersed. The larva mines venter upwards. Mostly several mines in a 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).

Larva greenish-white with green gut-line and brown head (British leafminers). The larva is also illustrated in Bladmineerders van Europa.

Ectoedemia rubivora larva,  ventral
Ectoedemia rubivora larva, ventral
Image: © Willem Ellis (Bladmineerders van Europa)

Pupa: The pupae of moths have visible head appendages, wings and legs which lie in sheaths (see examples).

Adult: The adult is not illustrated in UKMoths (check for update). The species is included in mothdissection.co.uk.

Hosts in Great Britain and Ireland:

Rosaceae        
Rubus   A bramble   British leafminers
Rubus   A bramble   Pitkin & Plant

Hosts elsewhere:

Rosaceae        
Rubus       Belgian Lepidoptera
Rubus arcticus Arctic Bramble   Bladmineerders van Europa
Rubus caesius Dewberry British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Belgian Lepidoptera
Rubus caesius Dewberry British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Rubus chamaemorus Cloudberry   Bladmineerders van Europa
Rubus fruticosus Bramble / Blackberry   Belgian Lepidoptera
Rubus fruticosus Bramble / Blackberry   Bladmineerders van Europa
Rubus saxatilis Stone Bramble British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa

Time of year - larvae: October (British leafminers).

Time of year - adults: Currently unknown.

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Britain including Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, East Suffolk, Huntingdonshire, North Hampshire, North Somerset, West Gloucestershire, West Norfolk and West Suffolk (NBN Atlas).

See also British leafminers distribution map.

Also recorded in the Republic of Ireland (Fauna Europaea).

Distribution elsewhere: Widespread in continental Europe including Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Hungary, Italian mainland, Latvia, Lithuania, ? Norwegian mainland, Poland, Romania, Russia - Central, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Ukraine and Yugoslavia (Fauna Europaea).

NBN Atlas links to known host species:

Rubus arcticus, Rubus caesius, Rubus chamaemorus, Rubus fruticosus, Rubus saxatilis

British and Irish Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere:

Chalcidoidea  
Chrysocharis prodice (Walker, 1839) Eulophidae: Entedoninae
Ichneumonoidea - Links to species no longer available  
Adelius subfasciatus Haliday, 1833 Braconidae: Cheloninae


External links: Search the internet:

Belgian Lepidoptera
Biodiversity Heritage Library
Bladmineerders van Europa
British leafminers
Encyclopedia of Life
Fauna Europaea
NBN Atlas
NHM UK Checklist
UKMoths

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Last updated 11-Jul-2019  Brian Pitkin Top of page