RHODODENDRON. Rhododendrons. [Ericaceae]

Seven species of Rhododendron are recorded in Britain. All are introduced.

No Diptera miners are recorded on Rhododendron in Britain.

One non-Diptera miner, Caloptilia azaleella, is recorded on Rhododendron in Britain (see below).

Key for the identification of the mnes of British
non-Diptera recorded on Rhododendron

Note: The larvae of mining Coleoptera, Hymenoptera and Lepidoptera may live in a corridor mine, a corridor-blotch mine, a blotch mine, a case, a rolled or folded leaf, a tentiform mine or sandwiched between two more or less circular leaf sections in later instars. Larva may pupate in a silk cocoon. The larva may have at least six legs (although they may be reduced or absent), a head capsule and chewing mouthparts with opposable mandibles (see video of a gracillarid larva feeding). Larvae of Hymenoptera and Lepidoptera usually also have abdominal legs (see examples). Frass, if present, never in two rows. Unless feeding externally from within a case the larva usually vacates the mine by chewing an exit hole. Pupa with visible head appendages, wings and legs which lie in sheaths (see examples).

1 > Leaf-miner: The larvae initially form mines in leaves, later forming a cone by rolling the leaf downwards from the tip (UKMoths). Orange brown to rust-coloured lower-surface blotch, mostly near the midrib. Towards the end of the mining activity silk is deposited in the mine; this causes the mine to contract, folding the leaf over the mine. Frass packed in a corner of the mine. After some time the larva vacates the mine and lives free then in a leaf tip that has been rolled downwards and fixed with silk. Two of such cones are made and eaten out from the inside. Larva without abdominal legs. Pupation in a membranous, shining cocoon at the underside of a leaf (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Recorded on Rhododendron in Britain and elsewhere. This moth is an adventive species, probably introduced with azalea and rhodedendron plants, that is now spreading throughout Britain. Widespread in continental Europe.

Caloptilia azaleella (Brants, 1913) [Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae]