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 roborella (Johansson, 1971)
[Lepidoptera: Nepticulidae]

Common Oak Pigmy


Nepticula roborella Johansson, 1971. Ent. scand. 2: 258, fig'd.
Stigmella roborella
(Johansson, 1971).


Leaf-miner: The first generation gallery is short, the second generation is longer. The frass is in a narrow line (British leafminers).

Egg at he upper- or underside. The mine is a long, slender, not very contorted corridor. In the first part the frass lies in a very narrow line; later the frass may in rare cases lie more widely scattered, but nowhere does it take more than 1/3 of the width of the gallery (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 whitish-yellow, head pale brown (this distinguishes it from S. atricapitella which has a dark head) (British leafminers).

Yellow, head light brown (Huisman et al., 2001; Johansson et al., 1990a). The light coloured head distinguishes the larva from the one of atricapitella (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 by Rob Edmunds. The species is included in mothdissection.co.uk.

Hosts in Great Britain and Ireland:

Fagaceae        
Quercus       British leafminers
Quercus petraea Sessile Oak British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Pitkin & Plant
Quercus robur Pedunculate Oak British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Pitkin & Plant

Hosts elsewhere:

Fagaceae        
Quercus       Belgian Lepidoptera
Quercus castaneifolia Chestnut-leaved Oak British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Quercus cerris Turkey Oak British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Quercus petraea Sessile Oak British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Quercus pubescens Downy Oak   Bladmineerders van Europa
Quercus robur Pedunculate Oak British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Quercus rubra Red Oak British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa

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

Time of year - adults: Currently unknown.

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Widespread including Banffshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, East Cornwall, East Kent, East Norfolk, East Suffolk, East Sutherland, Elgin, Glamorgan, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Isle of Wight, Kincardineshire, Middlesex, Monmouthshire, North Aberdeenshire, North Ebudes, North Essex, North Wiltshire, Northamptonshire, South Aberdeenshire, South Devon, South Essex, South Hampshire, South Lancashire, South Wiltshire, Stafford, Warwickshire, West Kent, West Norfolk, West Suffolk and Worcestershire (NBN Atlas).

See also British leafminers distribution map.

Distribution elsewhere: Widespread in continental Europe including Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Greek mainland, Hungary, Italian mainland, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Russia - Central, Sardinia, Sicily, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spanish mainland, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands and Ukraine. Also recorded in Near East (Fauna Europaea).

NBN Atlas links to known host species:

Quercus castaneifolia, Quercus cerris, Quercus petraea, Quercus pubescens, Quercus robur, Quercus rubra

British and Irish Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere:

Chalcidoidea  
Cirrospilus vittatus Walker, 1838 Eulophidae: Eulophinae
Ichneumonoidea  
Adelius erythronotus (Förster, 1851) 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
Find using Google
Find using Google Scholar
Find images using Google


XHTML Validator
Last updated 28-Jun-2019  Brian Pitkin Top of page