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RIBES.
Currants and Gooseberries. [Grossulariaceae]
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Nine
species of Ribes are recorded in Britain. These include four
native species.
No Diptera miners are recorded on Ribes in Britain.
Elsewhere
the agromyzid Agromyza
idaeina (as A. potentillae) is recorded mining Ribes
glandulosum, although Rosaceae are more usual hosts.
No non-Diptera miners are recorded on Ribes in Britain.
Elsewhere
four British non-Diptera miners are recorded on Ribes (see
below).
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Flowering
Currant
Ribes sanguineum |
Key for the identification of British non-Diptera mines recorded on Ribes
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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).
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1a > Miner and case bearer. The larva lives outside the mine, protected by a case, and feeds on the underlying plant tisses via a hole cut in the epidermis. Mine does not contain frass (Coleophora species)
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1b > Miner, but not a case-bearer, although it may live sandwiched between two more or less circular sections cut from the leaf in later instars e.g. Incurvaria species. The larva lives mainly inside the mine. Mine usually contains frass
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2a > Leaf-miner
and case-bearer:
The case resembles that of C.
violacea, but does not lie so flat again the leaf as this
species (having a mouth angle of 30 to 50°). C.
violacea also has a case which bulges in the middle, whereas
in C. potentillae the case tapers towards the posterior (British
leafminers).
Immediately
after emergence the larva makes a full depth, quickly widening,
corridor, with frass as small grains in a broad central band. Finally
results a blotch of 2 x 5 mm, from which the youth case is cut.
The fully developed case is a hairy, greyish brown to silver grey
lobe case of about 1 cm long, with a clearly laterally compressed
end; the mouth angle is about 90°. The case is difficult to
separate from that of C. ochripennella (Bladmineerders
van Europa).
Recorded
on Betula, Agrimonia, Crataegus, Filipendula ulmaria, Fragaria
vesca, Geum, Helianthemum
nummularium,
Potentilla, Prunus spinosa, Rosa, Rubus caesius, Rosa fruticosus
and Salix cinerea, but not yet on Ribes,
in Britain plus Malus sylvestris, Ribes, Sanguisorba and
Spiraea elsewhere. Widespread in Britain and in continental
Europe.
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Coleophora
potentillae (Elisha, 1885) [Lepidoptera: Coleophoridae].
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2b > Leaf-miner
and case-bearer:
The larva feeds by inserting its head into small mines it creates
on the leaves of birch, elm, alder, or hazel. Occasionally it is
found feeding on other trees, or on herbaceous plants onto which
it has accidentally Fallén. It forms two cases during its larval
life. The first case is initially curved, smooth, laterally compressed
with a bivalved anal opening, and about 2 mm long in September.
During October it feeds, and adds a few rough collars of larval
material around the oral opening. After hibernation, it feeds again
in April and early May, adding more protruding collars until they
equal or exceed the original smooth part of the case. At the same
time, it expands the case girth by the creation of a silk gusset
ventrally. The second case, 6 or 7 mm long, is formed in May, leaving
the vacated first case attached to its last feeding mine. The new
case is tubular with a trivalved crimp at the anal opening. The
dorsum is formed from the edge of the leaf from which the case was
cut. This results in a more or less serrated dorsal keel, depending
on the plant species and the individual piece of leaf used. Considerable
variation in the degree of serration can be found, even among specimens
off the same tree. The case colour varies with food plant, from
yellowish brown on birch, darkening through elm and hazel to dark
brown on alder (UKMoths).
The
strongly curved young case is is a composite leaf case, the adult
case is a tubular leaf case. The adult case is bivalved, about 7
mm in length; the mouth angle is around 30°. The case is straw
coloured and almost always has a toothed dorsal keel (remnant of
the margin of the leaf from which the case was cut). Neither larvae
or cases of C.
coracipennella, prunifoliae,
serratela and
spinella can be
separated; from serratella (Bladmineerders
van Europa).
Recorded
on Alnus, Betula, Corylus and Ulmus, but
not yet on Ribes, in Britain plus Carpinus, Mespilus,
Ostrya, Hippophae, Ribes, Myrica, Forsythia, Amelanchier, Chaenomeles,
Cotoneaster, Crataegus, Cydonia, Eriobotrya, Malus, Prunus, Sorbus
,
Spiraea, Populus and Salixelsewhere. This is probably the commonest species of British
coleophorid, and is found throughout the British Isles. Widespread
in continental Europe.
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Coleophora
serratella (Linnaeus, 1761) [Lepidoptera: Coleophoridae].
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2c > Leaf-miner
and case-bearer:
The larva feeds on a wide range of trees, shrubs and herbs, favouring
Rosaceae, but not exclusively. The fully developed cased larva may
be found active in October and again, after winter diapause, in
April. Cases, about 6 mm, of diapausing larvae may be found through
winter, fixed to a tree or fence post. The dorsal surface of the
case is usually covered in leaf fragments, but they can sometimes
be worn off almost smooth. The ventral surface is swollen at the
middle and has a keel, which usually bends upwards at the posterior.
The cases of C. ahenella
(on Rhamnus, Frangula, Viburnum and Cornus) and C.
potentillae (case less swollen, keel not bent up, resting
position less prone) are very similar (UKMoths).
Brownish
lobe case that lies almost flat on the leaf, either on the upper
or on the lower side. Case widest about the middle. Ventrally there
is a distinct keel. Mouth angle 0°. Full depth mines rather
large. The flaps of cuticular tissue that serve to enlarge the case
are cut out of the upper epidermis. (contrary to C.
ahenella and C.
potentillae, that use tissue from the lower epidermis).
The removal of these tissue flaps creates holes that are much larger
than those that serve as the entrance to the mine (Bladmineerders
van Europa).
Recorded
on numerous genera and species in several plant families, but
not yet on Ribes, in Britain. Recorded on numerous
genera and species in several plant families, including Ribes,
elsewhere. Widespread in Britain and continental Europe.
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Coleophora
violaceae (Ström, 1783) [Lepidoptera: Coleophoridae].
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3a > Leaf-miner: In the first instar the larva mines the leaves, forming short,
irregular, blotch-like mines, but in later instars it lives externally,
feeding in spun leaves and often twisting those of tender shoots. Larval head light-brown or yellowish brown, edged with black postero-laterally,
ocellar area blackish; prothoracic plate black edged with whitish
anteriorly; abdomen dull dark green; pinacula distinct, black,
sometimes brownish but with black bases to setae; anal plate large,
black (Bradley et al., 1973).
Small,
full depth mine without a definite shape; little frass. Some silk
is deposited in the mine. The larva soon leaves the mine and continues
feeding among spun leaves (Bladmineerders
van Europa).
Recorded
on numerous genera and species of several plant families, but
not yet on Ribes, in Britain. Recorded on numerous
genera and species of several plant families, including Ribes,
elsewhere. Widespread in Britain and continental Europe. Also
recorded from the Channel Is.
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Cnephasia
incertana (Treitschke, 1835) [Lepidoptera: Tortricidae].
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3b > Leaf-miner:
A long, whitish smoothly-curved upper-surface mine with broken black
frass (British
leafminers).
Oviposition
is by means of an ovipositor; what remains is a small scar: no egg
shell is visible at the start of the mine. From here a long, sometimes
very long, slender, full depth corridor winds throught the leaf,
not steered by leaf margin or the leaf venation. The midrib is crossed
effortless; the corridor frequently also crosses
itself; the section of the leaf cut off then usally turns brown
and dies off. Frass in a narrow central line. The larva vacates
the mine prior to pupation through an exit in the upper epidermis.
The vacated larval chamber is proportionally much
longer than in the case of Stigmella mines (> 3 x longer
than broad) (Bladmineerders
van Europa). Pupation in a silken cocoon suspended from threads attached to food plant
or other vegetation (British
leafminers).
Recorded
on numerous genera and species in several plant families, but
not yet on Ribes, in Britain. Recorded on numerous
genera and species in several plant families, including Ribes,
elsewhere. Widespread in Britain and continental Europe. Also
recorded in the Republic of Ireland.
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| Lyonetia
clerkella (Linnaeus, 1758) [Lepidoptera: Lyonetiidae]. |
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