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Tag Archives: Stigmella tityrella

326/366 Leaf mines: on Beech

21 Saturday Nov 2020

Posted by sconzani in autumn, insects, leaves, trees

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beech, leaf mines on Beech, moth larvae in leaf mines, moth leafmines, Parornix fagivora, Phyllonorycter maestingella, Phyllonorycter messaniella, Stigmella hemargyrella, Stigmella tityrella

Five species of Lepidoptera larvae can be found in the leaves of Beech (Fagus species) and, with a lot of searching, much head-scratching, some rejections, and the much appreciated assistance of our county moth recorder Dave, I’ve now found and positively identified all five in my local area.

201121 beech (1)
201121 beech (2)

Stigmella tityrella: This moth’s larval leaf mines featured in last week’s post about green islands. The gallery (like a corridor) mine is usually compact and angular and, in particular, the larva stays between the veins when creating its mine – that is the feature I find helps most with its identification. As you can see from the two mines below, the galleries are very narrow to begin with, then broaden as the larvae grow.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Stigmella hemargyrella: These larvae also create a gallery mine, but the mine is most often wider and longer than that of S. tityrella, and the larvae have no issue with crossing over the leaf veins.

201121 Stigmella hemargyrella (1)
201121 Stigmella hemargyrella (2)

Parornix fagivora: This is the mine I’ve found least in my local area, though I’m not sure if that’s a reflection on the moth’s rarity or my finding skills. Look for a blister, where the larva lives at first, and then a folded leaf edge, which it inhabits a bit like a cave.

201121 Parornix fagivora (1)
201121 Parornix fagivora (2)

Phyllonorycter messaniella: Both Phyllonorycter species on Beech create blisters; this one is usually an oval shape, almost rectangular, and quite broad. I’ve found the upper side of the leaf can be almost featureless but the blister on the underside is quite obvious so, if recording these, it’s best to include a photo of both sides of the leaf.

201121 Phyllonorycter messaniella (1)
201121 Phyllonorycter messaniella (2)
201121 Phyllonorycter messaniella (4)
201121 Phyllonorycter messaniella (3)

Phyllonorycter maestingella: This blister mine is long and quite narrow, and often placed between leaf veins. By spinning silk, the larva draws the leaf together to create a cosy tunnel, which looks a bit like a crease on the upper side of the leaf.

201121 Phyllonorycter maestingella (1)

201121 Phyllonorycter maestingella (2)
201121 Phyllonorycter maestingella (3)

I’ve attached to each of the moths’ names a link to the species description on the British Leafminers website, which is an excellent resource for anyone wanting to learn more.

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316/366 Green islands

11 Wednesday Nov 2020

Posted by sconzani in autumn, insects, trees

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Tags

beech, gall causing midge, galls on Beech, green islands, green islands on Beech leaves, Hartigiola annulipes, leaf mines, leaf mines on Beech, Stigmella tityrella

It’s late autumn, nearly winter, and, as you would expect, the leaves on this Beech tree have all now changed from vivid summer green to autumn brown … or have they? If you look more closely at this image, you’ll notice that some of the leaves have what entomologists, moth-ers and others in the know call ‘green islands’.

201111 green islands on beech

Butterfly Conservation’s Associate Director of Recording and Monitoring Richard Fox explained the reason for this most succinctly in a recent post on Twitter: ‘Thanks to Wolbachia bacteria in its body, the caterpillar uses cytokinin to maintain a green island of plant tissue in which it can feed in autumn.’

201111 green island stigmella tityrella (2)
201111 green island stigmella tityrella (1)

Fox was referring to leaf-mining moth caterpillars, like the Stigmella tityrella moth larvae that produced the mines in the leaves shown above, but other insects also manipulate the physiology of leaves so they can continue feeding. Another example from the same Beech tree can be seen below – here the larvae of the gall-inducing midge Hartigiola annulipes have also caused green islands to form in the leaves.

201111 Hartigiola annulipes green islands (1)

If you want to read more on the science behind this process, I found a paper entitled ‘Plant green-island phenotype induced by leaf-miners is mediated by bacterial symbionts‘, on the Royal Society website.

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About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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