Tags
British leafminers, Bucculatrix ulmella, cocoon on Oak leaf, leaf-mining moth, leafmining moth larvae, moth cocoon
This new-to-me species was the result of a recent session turning over Oak leaves to see what might be lurking beneath. I didn’t actually find the leafmines for this creature but rather, on adjacent trees, two empty cocoons – the tiny moths (pictured on the UK Moths website) that were metamorphosing inside had already hatched and flown (you can see part of the pupal case poking out of one cocoon). The ribbing on the cocoon points to this being one of Bucculatrix genus of moths and the fact that these were on Oak gives a positive identification of Bucculatrix ulmella (don’t be fooled by the specific name ulmella, which would appear to indicate the larvae feed on Elm – the species has apparently been misnamed).
We all like a nice Robin photo but it’s your posts on the tiny and otherwise overlooked that make your blog unique. Inspires me at least to look again at those blotches and squiggles and lumps and bumps in the wood.
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Thanks so much for your kind words. I’ll try to find more interesting squiggles and blotches and lumps and bumps to write about. 🙂
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