Mine of Ophiomyia cunctata on Taraxacum officinale Image: Willem Ellis (Bladmineerders van Europa)

Leaf-mine: A whitish blotch mine along mid-rib, with offshoots into leaf blade. Pupation takes place at the base of the mid-rib (Spencer, 1972: 25; Spencer. 1976: 63 (fig. 66)).

The mine begins as a very narrow, upper- or lower-surface corridor, somewhere in the blade. When this hits a thick vein the larva uses this to descend towards the midrib. From that moment the lave lives in the hollow midrib. From here short, lobate corridors enter the leaf blade. The larva may move to another leaf by way of the leaf base. The corridors in the leaf are virtually free of frass (at most a few grains where they leave the midrib); frass is concentrated in the base of the midrib. Here also the pupation takes place (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Larva: The larva is described by de Meijere (1925: 252 as O. sp. and 1934). Posterior spiracles are on short stalks, each with an ellipse of 9 bulbs (Spencer, 1972: 25). The larva is illustrated in Bladmineerders van Europa.

Puparium: Yellowish white; posterior spiracles are on short stalks, each with an ellipse of 9 bulbs (Spencer, 1972: 25). The puparium is illustrated in Bladmineerders van Europa.

Comments: Picris echioides is treated as Helminthotheca echioides (Bristly Oxtongue) by Stace (2010).

Hosts in Britain:

Hosts elsewhere:

Time of year - mines: July-October.

Time of year - adults: Unknown.

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Widespread in Britain including Kent (Dartford), London (Hampstead), Isle Of Wight (Blackgang Chine), Gloucester. (Coombe Dingle), Hertfordshire (Tring), Suffolk (Newmarket), Lancaster (Formby), Dunbarton (Bonhill) (Spencer, 1972: 25), Warwickshire (Coventry, Fazeley Canal and Foleshill) (Robbins, 1991: 123); Cambridgeshire, East Sussex, Glamorgan, Northamptonshire and West Kent (NBN Gateway - N.B. includes Watsonian Vice Counties having publicly available records that fall within or overlap the vice county border at 10km resolution or better i.e. a record for a vice county may relate to an adjacent vice county - for included datasets see NBN Grid map below).

NBN Grid map: Note that not all datasets on the NBN Gateway may be available on the map below. If you are an NBN Gateway registered user you can request access for missing datasets via the link 'Open interactive map in new window' below.

Distribution elsewhere: Widespread throughout much of Europe including Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden (Spencer, 1976: 62), The Netherlands (Bladmineerders van Europa), Albania, Austria, Balearic Is., Canary Is., Czech Republic, European Turkey, French mainland, Germany, Hungary, Italian mainland, Lithuania, Poland, Republic of Moldova, Slovakia and Spanish mainland (Martinez in Fauna Europaea).

NBN interactive distribution map(s) of known host species in Great Britain and Ireland and elsewhere:

Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere:

Biodiversity Heritage Library
Bladmineerders van Europa
British leafminers
Encyclopedia of Life
Fauna Europaea [128679]
NBN Gateway