Leaf-miner: Long, extremely narrow lower- or upper-surface corridor, with
a black or brown central frass line. After a while this primary
mine is vacated, and the larva starts making shorter, much broader,
full depth blotch mines. In the end the larva lives free among spun
leaves (Bladmineerders van Europa).
The
mine is also illustrated in UKMoths.
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 larvae can live on plants on the lowest parts of saltings, which
are frequently immersed by the tide (UKMoths).
Dirty
yellow with a red length line; head light brown; pronotum, anal
shield and thoracic feet black (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 illustrated in UKMoths. The species is included in mothdissection.co.uk.
Comments:
According to the literature also on Aster tripolium and Suaeda
maritima, but probably this concerns occasional observations
or confusion with the mines of Bucculatrix maritima (Bland,
2002a; Jansen, in litt.)
The
list of hostplants presented by Elsner et al. (1999a), including
Atriplex, Spergularia media and even Ferula is bizarre
(Bladmineerders van Europa).
Hosts in Great Britain and Ireland:
Hosts elsewhere:
Time
of year - larvae: May (UKMoths).
Time
of year - adults: June - September (UKMoths).
Distribution
in Great Britain and Ireland: Found on saltings in England
and Wales where its foodplants grow (UKMoths)
including Dorset, Durham, East Kent, East Suffolk, Glamorgan, Isle of Wight,
Kirkudbrightshire, North Lincolnshire, South Essex, South Hampshire, South-east Yorkshire, West Cornwall and West Sussex (NBN
Atlas).
It is regarded as a local and difficult-to-record
species (MBGBI 4-2), and can probably be most easily found by searching
for larvae from late April to early June (UKMoths).
Distribution
elsewhere: Widespread in continental Europe including Albania,
Austria, Balearic Is., Belgium, Bulgaria, Corsica, Croatia, Czech
Republic, Danish mainland, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Greek
mainland, Hungary, Italian mainland, Latvia, Poland, Portuguese
mainland, Romania, Russia - South, Sardinia, Sicily, Spanish mainland,
Sweden, The Netherlands and Ukraine (Fauna Europaea).
NBN Atlas links to known host species:
British and Irish Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere:
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