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

 

BUDDLEJA. Butterfly-bush. [Buddlejaceae]


Five species of Buddleja are recorded in Britain. All are introduced. These include Alternate-leaved Butterfly-bush (B. alternifolia), Butterfly-bush (B. davidii), Weyer's Butterly-bush (B. davidii x weyeriana) and Orange-ball-tree (B. globosa).

Only one British miner is reocrded on Buddleja.

A key to the European miners recorded on Buddleja is provided in Bladmineerders van Europa.

Butterfly-bush - Buddleja. Image: © Brian Pitkin
Butterfly-bush
Buddleja


Key for the identification of the known mines of British
insects (Diptera and non-Diptera) recorded on Buddleja


1 > Leaf-miner: A linear-blotch mine, often with several mines occurring in the same leaf (Spencer, 1976: 167, fig. 305).

A short, mostly upper-surface, rarely partly lower-surface corridor leads to a large, upper-surface, primary blotch. The mine initially is pale, turns brown later. Frass in sizeable dispersed grains. Pupation outside the mine; the larva leaves the mine through a semicircular exit slit in the upper epidermis.

Upper surface variable mine, from a short gallery leading to a large, roundish blotch to a long gallery leading to an elongated blotch.

On Buddleja, Scrophularia and Verbascum in Britain and elsewhere. Widespread in Britain and continental Europe.

Amauromyza verbasci (Bouché, 1847) [Diptera: Agromyzidae].



XHTML Validator Last updated 01-Jul-2019  Brian Pitkin Top of page