Elachista subocellea (Stephens, 1834)
[Lepidoptera: Elachistidae]


Aphelosetia subocellea Stephens, 1834. Ill. Brit. Ent. 4: 290.
Elachista subocellea
(Stephens, 1834).


Leaf-mine: The larva feeds internally on a leaf of False Brome, forming a blister-like mine (UKMoths).

At first a narrow ascending corridor. The direction reverses and the mine develops into a broad, greenish, inconspicuous blotch, reminiscent of a tentiform mine, 5-8 cm long. Pupation external (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Larva: Dull green, head and prothoracic shield light brown. Prothoracic shield divided in two narrow elongate, distally enlarged, slerites (Traugott-Olsen and Nielsen, 1977a; Bland, 1996a) (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Pupa: Details unknown.

Adult: The adult is illustrated in UKMoths. The genitalia are not illustrated by the Lepidoptera Dissection Group (check for update).

Adult of Elachista subocellea
Bloody Oaks Quarry, Rutland, Leics.
Image: © Andy Mackay (UKMoths)

Hosts in Britain:

Poaceae      
Brachypodium sylvaticum False Brome Pitkin and Plant
Brachypodium sylvaticum False Brome UKMoths

Hosts elsewhere:

Poaceae      
Brachypodium pinnatum Heath False-brome Bladmineerders van Europa
Brachypodium sylvaticum False Brome Bladmineerders van Europa

Time of year - larvae: End of April to beginning of June (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Time of year - adults: The moths fly in June and July, and are found in woods and woodland clearings rather than the typical grassland habitat of many Elachistidae (UKMoths).

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Scattered distribution covering much of the British Isles (UKMoths) including Bedfordshire, Caernarvonshire, Cambridgeshire, Denbighshire, Derbyshire, East Kent, Flintshire, Herefordshire, Kincardine, North Wiltshire, South Aberdeen, South Wiltshire, Stafford, Surrey, West Gloucestershire, West Kent, West Norfolk, West Suffolk and Worcestershire (NBN Gateway - N.B. includes Watsonian Vice Counties having publicly available records that fall within or overlap the vice county border at 10km resolution or better i.e. a record for a vice county may relate to an adjacent vice county - for included datasets see NBN Grid map below) and Ireland (Karsholt and van Nieukerken in Fauna Europaea). Generally commonest in the southern part of England (UKMoths).

NBN Grid map: Note that not all datasets on the NBN Gateway may be available on the map below. If you are an NBN Gateway registered user you can request access for missing datasets via the link 'Open interactive map in new window' below.

Distribution elsewhere: Widespread in continental Europe including Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Hungary, Italian mainland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spanish mainland, Sweden, Switzerland and The Netherlands (Karsholt and van Nieukerken in Fauna Europaea).

NBN interactive distribution map(s) of known host species in Great Britain and Ireland and elsewhere:

Brachypodium pinnatum, Brachypodium sylvaticum

Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere: Unknown.



External links: Search the internet:
Belgian Lepidoptera
Biodiversity Heritage Library
Bladmineerders van Europa
British leafminers
Encyclopedia of Life
Fauna Europaea
NBN Gateway
UKMoths
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Last updated 29-Jan-2012  Brian Pitkin Top of page