The leaf and stem mines of British flies and other insects
 

(Coleoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera and Lepidoptera)

by Brian Pitkin, Willem Ellis, Colin Plant and Rob Edmunds

 

Cosmopterix orichalcea Stainton, 1861
[Lepidoptera: Cosmopterigidae]

Marsh Cosmet


Cosmopterix orichalcea Stainton, 1861.
Cosmopteryx druryella Zeller, 1850, misidentification of Tinea drurella Fabricius, 1775.


Leaf-miner: Makes long narrow galleries. The frass is distributed through the mine and also some is ejected. The larvae may mine more than one leaf (British leafminers).

Elongate, rather irregular blotch. Most frass is ejected, what remains is concentrated in a few heaps. The larva makes several mines. Pupaton outside the mine (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Larva: The larvae of moths have a head capsule and chewing mouthparts with opposable mandibles (see video of a gracillarid larva feeding), six thoracic legs and abdominal legs (see examples).

Head flattened, blackish brown with U-shaped marking. Body yellow, ventrally a light brown, more or less oblong, spot on each segment; prothoracic plate dark brown and divided into two irregular parts; anal plate almost colourless; thoracic legs very light brown (Koster, 2002c) (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Pupa: The pupae of moths have visible head appendages, wings and legs which lie in sheaths (see examples).

Adult: The adult is illustrated in UKMoths. The species is included in mothdissection.co.uk.

Comments: Festuca arundinacea is treated as Schedonorus arundinacea (Tall Fescue) by Stace (2010).

Hosts in Great Britain and Ireland:

Poaceae        
Anthoxanthum odoratum Sweet Vernal-grass British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. British leafminers
Anthoxanthum odoratum Sweet Vernal-grass British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Pitkin & Plant
Festuca arundinacea Tall Fescue British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Pitkin & Plant
Hierochloe odorata Holy-grass British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. British leafminers
Hierochloe odorata Holy-grass British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Pitkin & Plant
Milium       British leafminers
Milium       Pitkin & Plant
Phalaris arundinacea Reed Canary-grass British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Pitkin & Plant
Phalaris arundinacea Reed Canary-grass British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. British leafminers
Phragmites australis
Common Reed British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. British leafminers
Phragmites australis
Common Reed British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Pitkin & Plant

Hosts elsewhere:

Poaceae        
Anthoxanthum odoratum Sweet Vernal-grass British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Festuca arundinacea Tall Fescue British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Hierochloe odorata Holy-grass British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Milium       Bladmineerders van Europa
Phalaris arundinacea Reed Canary-grass British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Phragmites australis Common Reed British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa

Time of year - larvae: August-May (British leafminers).

Time of year - adults: Currently unknown.

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Britain including Cambridgeshire, Dorset, East Cornwall, East Norfolk, East Suffolk, Herefordshire, Huntingdonshire, Merionethshire, North Hampshire, Pembrokeshire, West Cornwall and West Norfolk (NBN Atlas). Prefers damp humid habitats eg woodland, fens etc (British leafminers).

See also British leafminers distribution map.

Also recorded in the Republic of Ireland (Fauna Europaea and National Biodiversity Data Centre Map).

Distribution elsewhere: Widespread in continental Europe including Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland, French mainland, Hungary, Italian mainland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia - East, Northwest and South, Slovakia, Spanish mainland, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and ? Yugoslavia (Fauna Europaea).

NBN Atlas links to known host species:

Anthoxanthum odoratum, Festuca arundinacea, Hierochloe odorata, Festuca arundinacea (= Schedonorus arundinacea), Phragmites australis

British and Irish Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere: Currently unknown.



External links: Search the internet:

Belgian Lepidoptera
Biodiversity Heritage Library
Bladmineerders van Europa
British leafminers
Encyclopedia of Life
Fauna Europaea
NBN Atlas
NHM UK Checklist
UKMoths

Find using Google
Find using Google Scholar
Find images using Google


XHTML Validator
Last updated 16-Oct-2019  Brian Pitkin Top of page