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

 

Stigmella confusella (Wood & Walsingham, 1894)
[Lepidoptera: Nepticulidae]

Pale Birch Pigmy


Nepticula confusella Wood & Walsingham, 1894. Ent. mon. Mag. 30: 272.
Stigmella confusella
(Wood & Walsingham, 1894).


Leaf-miner: The mine is long, frass linear (British leafminers).

Egg at the underside of the leaf, close to a vein. The mine is a very long and slender gallery, hardly widening at all. Frass in a continuous, very narrow central line. The corridor follows veins over long distances, obtaining thereby an angular appearance (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 a greenish white, head brown (British leafminers). The larva is illustrated in 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:

Betulaceae        
Betula       British leafminers
Betula       Pitkin & Plant
Betula       UKMoths

Hosts elsewhere:

Betulaceae        
Betula       Belgian Lepidoptera
Betula nana Dwarf Birch British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Belgian Lepidoptera
Betula nana Dwarf Birch British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Betula pendula Silver Birch British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Belgian Lepidoptera
Betula pendula Silver Birch British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Betula pubescens Downy Birch British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Belgian Lepidoptera
Betula pubescens Downy Birch British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa

Time of year - larvae: July - August (British leafminers; UKMoths).

Time of year - adults: May (UKMoths).

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Widely distributed across much of the British Isles (UKMoths) including Banffshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Caernarvonshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, East Norfolk, East Suffolk, Easterness, Elgin, Glamorgan, Herefordshire, Huntingdonshire, Kincardineshire, Mid-west Yorkshire, Middlesex, Monmouthshire, North Aberdeenshire, North Devon, North Ebudes, North Essex, North Hampshire, North Somerset, North Wiltshire, Shropshire, South Aberdeenshire, South Hampshire, South Lancashire, South Wiltshire, South-east Yorkshire, Stafford, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Gloucestershire, West Kent, West Norfolk, West Suffolk, Westmorland and Worcestershire (NBN Atlas).

See also British leafminers distribution map.

Also recorded in the Republic of Ireland (Fauna Europaea and National Biodiversity Data Centre Map).

Distribution elsewhere: Widespread in continental Europe including Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Norwegian mainland, Poland, ? Romania, Russia - Central, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands. Also recorded in East Palaearctic (Fauna Europaea).

NBN Atlas links to known host species:

Betula nana, Betula pendula, Betula pubescens

British and Irish Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere:

Chalcidoidea  
Chrysocharis nephereus (Walker, 1839) Eulophidae: Entedoninae
Cirrospilus vittatus Walker, 1838 Eulophidae: Eulophinae
Ichneumonoidea - Links to species no longer available  
Gnamptodon pumilio (Nees, 1834) Braconidae: Gnamptodontinae


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 12-Jul-2019  Brian Pitkin Top of page