Leaf-miner:
The mine in Luzula pilosa is rarely at the leaf-tip, being
usually about halfway down the leaf blade and well clear of the
winter/pring dieback. The autumn mine typically consists of a long
stright slended gallery folloowing one of the veims. The mine is
no wider than the larva and the frass is scattered towards or away
from the leaf-tip. In spring the mine is contined as a broad elongated
gallery with frass irregularly placed. Pupation occurs on the upper
surface of a leaf and is anchored by a silk girdle (Bland and
Knill-Jones, 1988).
From
autumn till early spring the larva makes a quite narrow corridor
with a total length of 12-16 cm, essentually running parallel to
the leaf venation; the corridor may change direction 2-3 times.
Generally the corridor lies about halfway the length of the leaf.
In March-April this gallery abruptly gives way to an elongate blotch,
that generally obliterates the original gallery. The larva may leave
its mine and restart elsewhere by making a lower-surface opening
in a new leaf, not far from the leaf-tip. Pupation external (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 has a black head and prothoracic plates with a pink body
and narrow creamy nid-dorsal line and a more diffuse creamy line
along the spiracles. The intensity of the pink varies considerably
(Bland and Knill-Jones, 1988).
Body more or less intensely pink, with three cream-coloured length lines; head and prothoracic plate black (Bladmineerders van Europa).
Pupa: The pupae of moths have visible head appendages, wings and legs which lie in sheaths (see examples).
See Patocka (1999a), Patocka and Turcáni (2005a) (Bladmineerders van Europa).
Adult:
The adult is illustrated in UKMoths. The species is included in mothdissection.co.uk.
Hosts in Great Britain and Ireland:
Hosts
elsewhere:
Time
of year - larvae:
Autumn to April-June of the following year (Bladmineerders van Europa).
Time
of year - adults: Currently unknown.
Distribution
in Great Britain and Ireland: Britain including Dorset, Dumfriesshire, Dunbartonshire, Durham, East Norfolk,
East Ross, Forfar, Haddington, Kincardineshire, North Devon, South Devon, South Wiltshire and Stirling (NBN
Atlas).
Also
recorded in the Republic of Ireland (Fauna Europaea and National Biodiversity Data Centre Map).
Distribution
elsewhere: Widespread in continental Europe including Austria,
Belgium, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Finland, French mainland,
Germany, Italian mainland, Latvia, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Slovakia,
Sweden and Switzerland (Fauna Europaea).
NBN Atlas links to known host species:
British and Irish Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere:
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