The leaf and stem  mines of British flies and other insects by Brian Pitkin, Willem Ellis, Colin Plant and Rob Edmunds.


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Lyonetia prunifoliella (Hübner, 1796)
[Lepidoptera: Lyonetiidae]
.


Tinea prunifoliella Hübner, 1796. Europ. Schmett. Tinea: 70.
Lyonetia prunifoliella
(Hübner, 1796).


Leaf-mine: The larva mines the leaves of various roseaceous trees, such as blackthorn and apple, forming a gallery leading to a blotch (UKMoths).

Eggs are deposited in the underside of a leaf, well away from the margin, often several per leaf. Around the oviposition site a cavity develops that in the end often leaves a hole in the leaf. Then a narrow, hardly widening, winding corridor, largely filled with a broad reddish brown frass line. The corridor abruptly widens into a wide, full depth blotch, that often lies against the leaf margin. The larva may leave its mine and continue elsewere, even on a different leaf. Note that the first blotch may already lie on a different leaf. Frass dispersed, in oval granules. Most frass is ejected through semicircular cuts along the outer limit of the blotch; part of it is often trapped in strands of silk under the leaf (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Mines of Lyonetia prunifoliella on Prunus spinosa Images: Willem Ellis (Nederlandse bladmineerders)
Mines of Lyonetia prunifoliella on Prunus spinosa
Images: Willem Ellis (Bladmineerders van Europa)

Larva: Whitish (also head and thoracic feet), less slender than the one of L. clerkella. The larva is described by Grandi (1931a, 1933a) and Schmitt, Brown & Davis (1996a) (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Pupa: The pupal cocoon is suspended from silken 'guy ropes' and closely resembles that of L. clerkella (UKMoths).

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

Hosts in Britain:

Betulaceae      
Betula     Pitkin & Plant
Rosaceae      
Chaenomeles japonica Japanese quince Pitkin & Plant
Crataegus     Pitkin & Plant
Cydonia oblonga Quince British leafminers
Malus     Pitkin & Plant
Malus     UKMoths
Prunus     Pitkin & Plant
Prunus spinosa Blackthorn UKMoths
Sorbus     Pitkin & Plant

Hosts elsewhere:

Betulaceae      
Betula pendula Silver Birch Bladmineerders van Europa
Betula pubescens Downy Birch Bladmineerders van Europa
Rosaceae      
Chaenomeles japonica Japanese quince Bladmineerders van Europa
Cotoneaster integerrimus Wild Cotoneaster Bladmineerders van Europa
Crataegus monogyna Hawthorn Bladmineerders van Europa
Cydonia oblonga Quince Bladmineerders van Europa
Mespilus germanica Medlar Bladmineerders van Europa
Prunus armeniaca Apricot Bladmineerders van Europa
Prunus cerasifera Cherry Plum Bladmineerders van Europa
Prunus dulcis Almond Bladmineerders van Europa
Prunus mahaleb St Lucie Cherry Bladmineerders van Europa
Prunus persica Peach Bladmineerders van Europa
Prunus spinosa Blackthorn Bladmineerders van Europa
Pyrus communis Pear Bladmineerders van Europa
Sorbus     Bladmineerders van Europa

Time of year - larvae: Details unknown.

Time of year - adults: The adult moths fly in September, and overwinter, appearing again in the spring (UKMoths).

Distribution in Great Britain & Ireland: Formerly locally resident in parts of southern and central England (UKMoths) including South-west York, Surrey and West Kent (NBN Gateway distribution map - JNCC and NE).

This moth seems to have died out as a British species and has not been reliably encountered since around 1900 (UKMoths).

NBN Grid map:

Distribution elsewhere: Widespread in Europe including Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Greek mainland, Hungary, Italian mainland, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Romania, Russia - Central, East and Northwest, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Ukraine and Yugoslavia (Karsholt & van Nieukerken in Fauna Europaea).

NBN interactive distribution maps of known host species in Britain and elsewhere:

Betula pendula, Betula pubescens, Chaenomeles japonica, Cotoneaster integerrimus, Crataegus monogyna, Cydonia oblonga, Mespilus germanica, Prunus armeniaca, Prunus cerasifera, Prunus dulcis, Prunus mahaleb, Prunus persica, Prunus spinosa, Pyrus communis

Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere:

Cirrospilus vittatus Walker, 1838 Hymenoptera: Eulophidae


External links: Search the internet:

Belgian Lepidoptera
British leafminers
NBN Gateway
Bladmineerders van Europa
Fauna Europaea
UKMoths

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Last updated 27-Aug-2010  Brian Pitkin