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

 

Chromatomyia periclymeni (de Meijere, 1924)
[Diptera: Agromyzidae].


Phytomyza periclymeni de Meijere, 1924. Tijdschr. Ent. 67: 145
Phytomyza periclymeni de Meijere, 1924; Hendel, 1935. Fliegen palaearkt. Reg. 6(2):452.
Phytomyza periclymeni de Meijere, 1924; Spencer, 1972b. Handbk ident. Br. Ins. 10(5g): 94
Phytomyza periclymeni de Meijere, 1924; Spencer, 1976. Fauna ent. Scand. 5(1): 466, figs 772B, 817-8.
Chromatomyia periclymeni (de Meijere, 1924); Spencer, 1990. Host specialization in the World Agromyzidae (Diptera) : 238, 240, 241 (fig. 907).
Phytomyza periclymeni de Meijere, 1924; Winkler et al. 2009. Syst. ent. 34: 260-292.


Leaf-miner: Mine star shaped when small, sometimes with a longer linear section, later an irregular brownish blotch. Pupation internal (Spencer, 1976: 466).

Mine not associated with the midrib, stellate, with a large number of short upper-surface corridors. The mine looks greyish and is inconspicuous. Frass in discrete grains. One, sometimes two larvae in a mine. Pupation within the mine (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Forms an upper surface mine which is normally blotchy. The young mine is stellate. The initial mine is purple in colour - turning brown as it ages (British leafminers).

Larva: The larvae of flies are leg-less maggots without a head capsule (see examples). They never have thoracic or abdominal legs. They do not have chewing mouthparts, although they do have a characteristic cephalo-pharyngeal skeleton (see examples), usually visible internally through the body wall.

The larva is described by de Meijere (1926 and 1937) and Griffiths (1974).

Puparium: The puparia of flies are formed within the hardened last larval skin or puparium and as a result sheaths enclosing head appendages, wings and legs are not visible externally (see examples).

Yellowish-brown; posterior spiracles on short projections, each with about 20 bulbs (Spencer, 1976: 466). The anterior spiracles of the yellow-brown puparium penetrate the plant epidermis (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Chromatomyia periclymeni puparium
Chromatomyia periclymeni puparium
Image: © Willem Ellis (Bladmineerders van Europa)

Hosts in Great Britain and Ireland:

Caprifoliaceae        
Lonicera       Robbins, 1991: 107
Lonicera periclymenum Honeysuckle British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al.


External links: Search the internet:
Biodiversity Heritage Library
Bladmineerders van Europa
British leafminers
Encyclopedia of Life
Fauna Europaea
NBN Atlas
NHM UK Checklist
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