Leaf-miner: The larva mines the leaves of various roseaceous trees, such as
blackthorn and apple, forming a gallery leading to a blotch (UKMoths).
Eggs
are deposited in the underside of a leaf, well away from the margin,
often several per leaf. Around the oviposition site a cavity develops
that in the end often leaves a hole in the leaf. Then a narrow,
hardly widening, winding corridor, largely filled with a broad reddish
brown frass line. The corridor abruptly widens into a wide, full
depth blotch, that often lies against the leaf margin. The larva
may leave its mine and continue elsewere, even on a different leaf.
Note that the first blotch may already lie on a different leaf.
Frass dispersed, in oval granules. Most frass is ejected through
semicircular cuts along the outer limit of the blotch; part of it
is often trapped in strands of silk under the leaf (Bladmineerders van Europa).
Forms blotch mines from an initial gallery (British
leafminers).
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).
Whitish (also head and thoracic feet), less slender than the one
of L. clerkella. The larva is described by Grandi (1931a, 1933a)
and Schmitt, Brown and Davis (1996a) (Bladmineerders van Europa).
Pupa: The pupae of moths have visible head appendages, wings and legs which lie in sheaths (see examples).
The pupal cocoon is suspended from silken 'guy ropes' and closely
resembles that of L.
clerkella (UKMoths).
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: Details unknown.
Time
of year - adults: The adult moths fly in September, and overwinter,
appearing again in the spring (UKMoths).
Distribution
in Great Britain and Ireland: Formerly locally resident in
parts of southern and central England (UKMoths)
including South-west Yorkshire (NBN
Atlas). See also British
leafminers distribution map.
Rediscovered in the UK after over 100 years. The latest sighting of the moth was in Somerset in 2007 (British
leafminers). but it has been recently (2015) recorded in East Kent by David Shenton.
Distribution elsewhere: Widespread in continental Europe including Austria, Belgium,
Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Greek
mainland, Hungary, Italian mainland, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia,
Norwegian mainland, Poland, Romania, Russia - Central, East and
Northwest, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Ukraine
and Yugoslavia (Fauna Europaea).
NBN Atlas links to known host species:
Betula
pendula, Betula
pubescens, Chaenomeles
japonica, Cotoneaster
integerrimus, Crataegus
monogyna, Cydonia
oblonga, Mespilus
germanica, Prunus
armeniaca, Prunus
cerasifera, Prunus
dulcis, Prunus
mahaleb, Prunus
persica, Prunus
spinosa, Pyrus
communis |
British and Irish Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere:
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