Leafmines: Coleophora paripennella

09 Monday Jun 2025

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British coleophora, British moths, case-bearing moth larva, case-bearing moth larva on Knapweed, Coleophora, Coleophora paripennella, leaf-mining moth larvae, moth larva on Knapweed

When I got home and checked my photos of this Coleophora, much head scratching ensued. From the British Leafminers website, I could see that there are only three species of case-bearing moth larvae known to feed on Knapweed (Centaurea nigra) and this case didn’t look like any of them. The case of Coleophora conspicuella is described as black and glossy, and has a peculiar almost keel-like shape. Coleophora peribenanderi mostly mines thistle species, is only occasionally seen on Knapweed, and the larvae is active from August to October. Coleophora paripennella‘s case looked the most likely, but is also usually much darker, almost black. So, I ‘phoned a friend’.

And my friendly expert from British Leafminers also ‘phoned a friend’, checking with another moth larvae expert. Their opinions concurred: this was Coleophora paripennella, just with a much lighter-coloured case than usual. Like C. peribenanderi, C. paripennella uses both thistles and Knapweed as larval plants, but in this case, those larvae that use thistle are fully grown by the autumn, whereas those that munch on Knapweed, top up their larval development by feeding again from April to May/June. You can see the sleek and glossy adult moth that eventually results from all this leaf munching on the UK Moths website here.

Leafmines: Stigmella atricapitella

02 Monday Dec 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects, leaves, trees

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British leafminers, British moths, leaf-mining moth larvae, leafmines on Oak, Stigmella roborella

This is the third of the three new leafminers in ‘green islands’ on fallen Oak leaves that I found during one 30-minute period checking leaves in a local park. These are the work of the moth Stigmella atricapitella, the larvae of which you can see inside the mines shown below.

241202 Stigmella atricapitella

This moth breeds twice each year, so the mines can be seen in June – July and again between September and November, though the mines differ slightly each time (see the information on the British Leafminers website). It is possible to confuse these leafmines with those of Stigmella roborella but, fortunately, S. atricapitella has ‘dark prothoracic sclerites’, the dark marks you can see just below the head of the larvae in my images.

Leafmines: Ectoedemia subbimaculella

25 Monday Nov 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects, leaves, trees

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British leafminers, British moth larvae, Ectoedemia subbimaculella, leaf-mining moth larvae, leafmines on Oak, Oak leafminers

This is the second of the three new leafminers I recently found in ‘green islands’ on fallen Oak leaves during half an hour’s fossicking in one of my local parks. And this one, both the adult you can see on the UK Moths website and the mine of its larva, is very similar to the first of the three I blogged about (Leafmines: Ectoedemia heringi, 18 November).

241125 Ectoedemia subbimaculella (1)

Active during October and November, today’s leafmines were created by the larvae of the moth Ectoedemia subbimaculella, and the difference between the mines of the two species is the slit in the lower part of the mine, on the under side of the leaf, of this one. If you want further information and to see additional, better photos, check out the entry on the British Leafminers website.

241125 Ectoedemia subbimaculella (2)

Leafmines: Ectoedemia heringi

18 Monday Nov 2024

Posted by sconzani in leaves, trees

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British moths, Ectoedemia heringi, leaf-mining larvae on Oak leaves, leaf-mining moth larvae, moth larvae on Oak, Oak leafmines

There’s a local park I don’t often visit as it’s a bit too managed for my liking but, recently, when I didn’t have time for a longer walk, I headed in that direction. And I’m very glad I did as, during one 30-minute period of fossicking through fallen Oak leaves, I found three new leafminers, all feeding in the ‘green islands’ their own chemicals had induced in the leaves. This is the first, Ectoedemia heringi, distinguishable from a similar species Ectoedemia albifasciella by the brown head seen here on the larva in the mine. You can read more about this species on the British Leafminers website and see the very attractive adult moth on the UK Moths website.

241118 Ectoedemia heringi

Leafmines: Gypsonoma dealbana

13 Wednesday Nov 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects, leaves, trees

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British leafminers, British moths, Gypsonoma dealbana, Gypsonoma species, leaf-mining moth larvae, moth larvae on Oak, Oak leafmines

Two leafmine posts on one week may be a bit much for the uninterested amongst you, but this is really just a postscript to my recent post on the leafmines of two possible Gypsonoma species of moths (Leafmines: Gypsonoma species, 28 October). As I outlined in that blog I hadn’t been able to be precise in my identification as there are two Gypsonoma species that mine the leaves of Poplar. Fortunately for me, there is only one that mines Oak leaves and I managed to find several examples on an Oak sapling at Cardiff’s Grangemoor Park during a walk last week.

241113 Gypsonoma dealbana (2)

I was investigating any signs of leaf damage, which may have been caused by munching beetles or snails or various other hungry mini-beasties but, in this case, I was lucky to spot these four examples of Gypsonoma dealbana, where the moth larvae have used silk and their own frass to spin themselves tiny tubes to hide in (I’ve shown the upper and lower sides of the leaves so you can get an idea what to look for, if you’re so inclined). I’m not sure if the larvae were still present – I didn’t prod them to find out, though it’s likely they’ve already moved down into the soil below the tree, spun a little cocoon, and begun hibernating the winter months away.

241113 Gypsonoma dealbana (1)

Leafmines: Ectoedemia argyropeza

11 Monday Nov 2024

Posted by sconzani in autumn, insects, leaves, trees

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Aspen, British leafmines, Ectoedemia argyropeza, leaf-mining moth larvae, leafmines on Aspen

The new leafmines are coming thick and fast this year, not because my skills are improving but rather because I’m following the right people on social media and take my inspiration for searching from what they’re finding.

241111 Ectoedemia argyropeza (1)

Today’s leafmines, made by the larvae of the moth Ectoedemia argyropeza, can be found on Aspen (Populus tremula) between July and November. They are easier to spot later in the season when the leaves turn brown and begin to fall as the mines cause the surrounding leaf area to remain green – the so-called ‘green islands’ that some moth species have the ability to create through the chemicals they secrete, which allows them to continue feeding in their portion of the leaf. The other thing to look for with these miners is the brown mark in the leaf petiole, where the mine originated.

241111 Ectoedemia argyropeza (2)

Though I don’t often bring home the mines I find, in this instance I had been unable to get good photos along the busy road so brought home one leaf. I temporarily forgot about the leaf for a couple of days and , when I opened the little pot it was in, found the larva had left the mine so I am also able to show you what it looks like, below.

241111 Ectoedemia argyropeza (3)

Leafmines: Phyllonorycter comparella

04 Monday Nov 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects, leaves, trees

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British leafmines, British moths, leaf-mining moth larvae, leafmines on Poplar, Phyllonorycter comparella, Poplar leaf-miner

This was a wonderful surprise! I was checking Poplar leaves, not searching for anything in particular, when I turned over a leaf and found this tiny moth, presumably only just emerged from the pupa within its silken mine as its wings had not fully expanded.

241104 Phyllonorycter comparella (1)

I didn’t know what it was until I got home and checked my photos, and then was fairly sure I must have got my identification wrong as the Welsh biodiversity database was showing just four Welsh records, all closer to England, in the county of Gwent. The name I’d come up with was Phyllonorycter comparella (common name Poplar leaf-miner).

241104 Phyllonorycter comparella (2)

The mine certainly looked right, though it was difficult to be certain of the moth from what I had been able to see of its markings. But when I posted photos on social media, one of the moth experts I know almost immediately popped up with a comment ‘Blimey …’ and ‘I can’t think of any plausible alternatives’, and then another expert commented ‘Very good find’. And now my county moth recorder has confirmed my record. You can read more about this Poplar-leaf-mining moth on the British Leafminers website and see better photos of the adult moth on the UK Moths website.

Leafmines: Gypsonoma species

28 Monday Oct 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects

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British leafminers, Gypsonoma oppressana, Gypsonoma species, leaf-mining moth larvae, leafminers on Poplar, moth larvae on Poplar

Though this post is entitled Gypsonoma species (and that’s how I recorded my find), according to one of my friendly local experts, the mines shown here are very likely to be Gypsonoma oppressana as that species usually mines communally, with up to three mines on a leaf. The other Gypsonoma species possibility that also uses Poplar as a larval food plant (though mines other tree leaves as well) is G. dealbana but its larvae are usually solitary miners and, if you happen to spot them, are whitish rather than the brown colour of G. oppressana. You may just be able to make out in my photos the frass-covered silken tubes these larvae create to hide in.

241028 Gypsonoma oppressana (1)

I was a little late in the season looking for this species but my expert tells me I won’t have to wait till next autumn to restart my search for more Gypsonoma oppressana larvae. In the spring, when the larvae wake up, they feed inside Poplar leaf buds, but they still live within their pooh-covered tubes and these can be spotted poking out from the holes they make in the leaf buds.

241028 Gypsonoma oppressana (2)

The adult Gypsonoma oppressana is a gorgeous little moth, with subtle patterning in shades of grey, brown, white and cinnamon, which you can see on the UK Moths website.

Leafmines: Stigmella trimaculella

21 Monday Oct 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects, trees

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British leafminers, leaf-mining moth larvae, leaf-mining moths, leafminers, leafmines on Poplar, Stigmella trimaculella

My leaf-mining contacts on X/Twitter and now on Bluesky were posting their lovely images of a mine on Poplar leaves that I hadn’t seen before so, of course, I went looking. These photos (and many more) are the result.

241021 stigmella trimaculella (1)

Though the UK Moths website information on their distribution states that this moth can be found ‘throughout England, where it is fairly common except in the west’ and that ‘there are records from Scotland and Wales, but very few’, there are, in fact, over a hundred Welsh records and they are scattered throughout the country.

241021 stigmella trimaculella (2)

This is Stigmella trimaculella (I love its common name: Three-spot dot), whose larvae munch on the leaves of Populus species – that’s all the various types of Poplar, as well as Aspen. The mine starts out as a thin gallery, widening as the larva grows in size, eventually becoming a silvery blotch. As you can see in the photo below left, the larva is a greenish-yellow in colour and has a brown head. The mines can be found twice each year, between June and July and again from September to October.

241021 stigmella trimaculella (3)

Leafmines: Parornix anglicella revisited

14 Monday Oct 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects, trees

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British moths, cones on Hawthorn leaves, Hawthorn, leaf-mining moth, leaf-mining moth larvae, leafmines on Hawthorn, moth larva spinning, Parornix anglicella

Recently, when checking Hawthorn leaves for leafmines, I spotted two of these larvae spinning on separate but close Hawthorn bushes so took several photos of both and a short video of one.

241014 Parornix anglicella (1)

As the majority of photographs show larvae from above not below, and these both looked to have dark spot-like markings, I was confused about which species they might be, perhaps Parornix anglicella or maybe Phyllonorycter oxyacanthae. And I wasn’t the only one scratching my head, as my online expert contacts weren’t sure either – one of them even contacted their own expert to get an opinion. A return visit by me was clearly required, to try to re-find the larvae, possibly get more images, and see what had developed from their spinning activities.

So, while the location was fresh in my memory, I walked that way again the following day, and, amazingly, managed to find one of the leaves – not an easy task finding an individual leaf in a Hawthorn bush but the photo below shows the leaf in question, on consecutive days.

241014 Parornix anglicella (2)

And, when I turned the leaf over, there was the proof of identification, the distinctive cone of Parornix anglicella, still very green as the larva within hadn’t yet had time to eat all the leaf from inside. Turns out the expert’s expert had been correct!

241014 Parornix anglicella (3)