VIBURNUM. Wayfaring-tree, Guelder-rose and Laurustinus. [Caprifoliaceae]

Six species and two hybrids of Viburnum are recorded in Britain. These include Wayfaring-tree (V. lantana), Guelder-rose (V. opulus) and Laurustinus (V. tinus).

No Diptera miners are recorded on Viburnum in Britain.

Three non-Diptera miners are recorded on Viburnum in Britain and elsewhere (see below).

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

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 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 > Leaf-miner, but not a case-bearer: The larva lives mainly inside the mine. Mine usually contains frass. In later instars the larva may live sandwiched between two more or less circular sections cut from the leaf e.g. Incurvaria species.

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2a > Lobe case. The full grown case is about 7 mm long. The mouth angle is 0°, causing the case to lie flat on the leaf. The case is gradually enlarged by the addition of rings that are cut out of the epidermis. The rings become gradually larger, and stick irregularly out of the contour of the case. The rings are cut out of the lower epidermis of the mine. This implies that mines may have both normal, small openings, and large ones. Compare for instance C. violacea, that cuts rings out of the upper epidermis (Bladmineerders van Europa). The larva feeds briefly initially and again after over wintering. It then aestivates until Autumn. It makes one case which it enlarges by adding pieces of excised lower epidermis (British leafminers).

Recorded on Cornus, Frangula, Lonicera, Rhamnus, Symphoricarpos and Viburnum in Britain and Cornus, Frangula, Lonicera, Rhamnus, Swida, Symphoricarpos and Viburnum elsewhere. Southern England. Widespread in continental Europe.

Coleophora ahenella Heinemann, 1877 [Lepidoptera: Coleophoridae]

2b > 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, including Viburnum, in Britain and elsewhere. Widespread in Britain and continental Europe.

Coleophora violaceae (Ström 1783) [Lepidoptera: Coleophoridae]

3 > The mine is underside, between veins, causing leaf to arch. The lower epidermis is at first white, then brown (British leafminers). Lower-surface tentiform mine, white at first, later brown, between two side veins. Pupa without a recognisable cocoon in the mine. Before ecdysis the pupa works itself halfway out of the upperside of the mine (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Recorded on Viburnum and Sorbus in Britain and elsewhere. Occurs in the southern counties of England and Wales. Widespread in continental Europe.

Phyllonorycter lantanella (Schrank, 1802) [Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae]