TEESDALIA. Shepherd's Cress. [Brassicaceae]

Only one species of Teesdalia, Shepherd's Cress (T. nudicaulis), is recorded in Britain.

No Diptera miners are recorded on Teesdalia in Britain.

Elsewhere the drosophilid Scaptomyza flava is recorded mining Teesdalia.

No non-Diptera miners are recorded on Teesdalia in Britain.

Elsewhere two British non-Diptera miners are recorded on Teesdalia (see below).

Key for the identification of the mines of British
non-Diptera recorded on Teesdalia

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).

1a > Leaf-miner: Rather small, untidy, full depth, often branched corridor, often close to the leaf margin. Sides irregularly eaten out. Frass in a greyish-green central line that is interrupted from time to time, sometimes partly in strings. In times of rain the frass may run out and appear greenish. Usually several mines in a leaf (Bladmineerders van Europa). The legless larva is rather shapeless, with a well-sclerotised head. The body is whitish; head greyish brown with Y-shaped lighter marking. Pronotum with a pair of brownish shields. The mandibles have two teeth (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Mine of Ceutorhynchus minutus on Raphanus sativus Image: Willem Ellis (Bladmineerders van Europa)

Recorded on numerous genera and species of Brassicaceae, Capparaceae, Resedaceae and Tropaeolaceae, including Cochlearia, but not yet on Teesdalia, in Britain and Teesdalia elsewhere. Widespread in Britain and continental Europe. Also recorded in the Republic of Ireland.

Ceutorhynchus minutus (Marsham, 1802) [Coleoptera: Curculionidae]

1b > Rather narrow corridor, untidy and sometimes branched, starting from the base of the leaf, in particular the midrib. Sides of the corridor irregularly eaten out, not really parallel. Frass mostly present, and then in a central line. The legless larva is capable of leaving the mine and start a new one elsewhere. These later mines are much broader, and the frass is scattered irregularly. (Bladmineerders van Europa.

Host plants unknown in Britain. Recorded on numerous genera and species in several plant families, including Teesdalia, elsewhere. Recorded in southern England. Widespread in continental Europe.

Orthochaetes insignis (Aube, 1863) [Coleoptera: Curculionidae]