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DIANTHUS. Pinks. [Caryophyllaceae]

Fifteen species an dhybrids of Dianthus are recorded in Britain. These include the native Cheddar Pink (D. gratianopolitanus), Deptford Pink (D. armeria) and Maiden Pink (D. deltoides) and the introoduced Clove Pink (D. caryophyllus). Deptford Pink (D. armeria) and Cheddar Pink (D. gratianopolitanus) are protected under Schedule 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981. Three dipterous miners, the agromyzid Amauromyza flavifrons and the anthomyiids Delia cardui and Delia echinata are recorded on Dianthus in Britain. The agromyzids Liriomyza huidobrensis and Liriomyza trifolii, pest species of ornamental and vegetable crops occasionally intercepted at UK points of entry, have been recorded on Dianthus. Both species have been found under glass in England and Wales. All populations have been and continue to be eradicated. Elsewhere the agromyzids Amauromyza chenopodivora, Liriomyza huidobrensis and Liriomyza trifolii, the drosophilid Scaptomyza graminum, and the anthomyiids Delia cardui and Delia echinata are recorded mining Dianthus. Although previously recorded as a miner in stems Dianthus, Botanophila fugax is a common saprophagous species, the larvae normally feeding in the soil (G.C.D. Griffiths, pers. comm.). No non-dipterous miners are recorded on Dianthus in Britain.

Garden Pink - Dianthus sp.

Key for the identification of the known Diptera mines in Britain.

1> Leaf mine. 2. ->Leaf and stem mine. 3. 2> A white linear-blotch mine, the linear section sometimes not detectable as it becomes enveloped in later blotch. Puparium reddish brown Mines of Amauromyza flavifrons on Silene dioica. Image: Willem Ellis (Source: Nederlandse bladmineerders) Amauromyza (Trilobomyza) flavifrons (Meigen) [Agromyzidae]. 3> Leaf and stem mine. Mine always arising from the leaf base or ending in it, because the larva mines and changes leaves. Mine often broad, irregular corridor like, often touching the midrib. At first corridor often entirely without frass, later in the spring the mines are often less deep, containing thick, irregularly deposited frass lumps. Delia cardui (Meigen) [Anthomyiidae]. ->Leaf and stem mine. Apart from mining leaves the stems are excavated. Oviposition takes place on the tips of shoots. The larva at first mines strip-like full depth corridors in the apical leaves, going then into the stem, which it hollows out, so that it becomes translucent. It then searches out leaves further down in which initially it mines depositing frass in strips, but then in blotches. The corridors often lie in one half of the leaf and can be branched. In the blotches the frass is irregularly scattered. Pupation is in the hollow stem or in the ground. Delia echinata (Séguy) [Anthomyiidae].

Last updated 05-Aug-2008  Brian Pitkin

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