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 alnetella (Stainton, 1856)
[Lepidoptera: Nepticulidae]

Silver-barred Alder Pigmy


Nepticula alnetella Stainton, 1856. Entomol. Ann.: 43.
Stigmella alnetella
(Stainton, 1856).


Leaf-miner: A narrow gallery with frass in thin central line. The moths must be bred through to distinguish S.alnetella and S.glutinosae (British leafminers).

Ovipostion at the leaf lower surface. Then a full depth slender, corridor, often following a vein or the leaf margin for some distance. Frass in a continuous central line that nowhere is wider than one third of the corridor width. Frass never coiled. Usually only one mine in a leaf. Pupation outside the mine (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 pale yellow laterally and white dorsally with the green gut visible from above; head pale brown (British leafminers).

Yellow, head light brown; abdominal segment 1 ventrally spinulose (Gustafsson and van Nieukerken, 1990a). Prosternum without a spot (which is present in glutinosae) (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        
Alnus cordata Italian Alder British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Pitkin & Plant
Alnus glutinosa Alder British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. British leafminers
Alnus glutinosa Alder British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Pitkin & Plant

Hosts elsewhere:

Betulaceae        
Betula       Bladmineerders van Europa
Alnus cordata Italian Alder British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Alnus glutinosa Alder British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Belgian Lepidoptera
Alnus glutinosa Alder British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Alnus incana Grey Alder British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Alnus viridis Green Alder   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 in Britain including Ayrshire, Bedfordshire, Caernarvonshire, Cambridgeshire, Carmarthenshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, East Gloucestershire, East Norfolk, East Suffolk, Glamorgan, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Kincardineshire, Middlesex, Monmouthshire, North Essex, North Hampshire, North Somerset, Shropshire, South Aberdeenshire, South Lancashire, South Wiltshire, Stafford, West Norfolk, West Suffolk and Worcestershire (NBN Atlas). Also Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

See also British leafminers distribution map.

Distribution elsewhere: Widespread in continental Europe including Austria, Belgium, Corsica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Hungary, Italian mainland, Lithuania, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Portuguese mainland, Romania, Russia - East, Sardinia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spanish mainland, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Ukraine and Yugoslavia (Fauna Europaea).

NBN Atlas links to known host species:

Alnus cordata, Alnus glutinosa, Alnus incana, Alnus viridis

British and Irish Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere:

Chalcidoidea  
Chrysocharis prodice (Walker, 1839) Eulophidae: Entedoninae


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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Find images using Google


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Last updated 03-Jun-2019  Brian Pitkin Top of page