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

  

Melanagromyza aenea (Meigen, 1830)
[Diptera: Agromyzidae]

Agromyza aenea Meigen, 1830. Syst. Beschr. 6: 169
Melanagromyza aeneiventris subsp. fuscociliata Hendel, 1931. Fliegen palaearkt. Reg. 6(2): 160. [Synonymised by Spencer. 1966: 10]
Melanagromyza aenea (Meigen, 1830); Spencer, 1972b. Handbk ident. Br. Ins. 10(5g): 18 (figs 28-9), 20, 121. Melanagromyza aenea (Hendel, 1920); Spencer, 1976. Fauna ent. Scand. 5(1): 43-4, figs 17-9
Melanagromyza aenea (Meigen, 1830); Spencer, 1990. Host specialization in the World Agromyzidae (Diptera) : 54, 56 (figs 209-11), 57.

Stem-borer: Larva an internal stem-borer. Pupation internal (Spencer, 1972b: 20).

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.

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).

Puparium whitish-brown. Posterior spiracles separated by own diameter, each process with elongated ellipse of about 13 bulbs around the strong central horn (Spencer, 1972b: 18 (fig. 29), 20).

Hosts in Great Britain and Ireland:

Urticaceae        
Urtica dioica Common Nettle British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Spencer, 1972b: 121

Hosts elsewhere:

Urticaceae        
Urtica       Spencer, 1990: 54
Urtica dioica Common Nettle British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Spencer, 1976: 44

Time of year - larvae: Currently unknown.

Time of year - adults: Currently unknown.

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Widespread. Surrey (Godalming), Middlesex (Scratch Wood) and So>
Equisetum fluviatile Water Horsetail British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Spencer, 1976: 276
Equisetum fluviatile Water Horsetail British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Spencer, 1990: 6
Equisetum fluviatile Water Horsetail British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Dempwolf, 2001: 153

Time of year - mines: Currently unknown.

Time of year - adults: June.

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Widespread in northern Britain including Stafford (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Spencer, 1972b: 52); Easterness and Glamorgan (NBN Atlas).

Distribution elsewhere: Widespread in continental Europe including Denmark, Finland and Sweden (Spencer, 1976: 276), Germany (Dempwolf, 2001: 153), Czech Republic, Estonia, French mainland, Lithuania, Poland and The Netherlands (Fauna Europaea).

Also recorded in Alaska (Spencer, 1976: 276).

NBN Atlas links to known host species:

Equisetum arvense, Equisetum fluviatile

British and Irish Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere:

Ichneumonoidea - Links to species no longer available  
Dacnusa nigropygmaea Stelfox, 1954 Braconidae: Alysiinae

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

XHTML Validator
 Last updated 09-Jul-2019 Brian Pitkin Top of page