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

  

Scythropia crataegella (Linnaeus, 1767)
[Lepidoptera: Yponomeutidae]

Hawthorn Moth

Scythropia crataegella (Linnaeus, 1767)
Scythropia crataegella

Mine of Scythropia crataegella on Crataegus
Image: Ben Smart

Leaf-miner: The young larvae make very small (≤ 3 mm) corridor or blotch mines, usually several in a leaf. The primary mine generally lies adjacent to the midrib; as far as I have seen the egg always is upper-surface. The secondary mines often are found in leaves without primary miner: obviously the larvae easily move to another leaf. The secondary mines are made from the underside of the leaf; while moving around silk is deposited under the leaf. Most frass is ejected from the mines, and part of the frass grains remain stuck in the spinning. Rather soon the larvae start living completely free in a common spinning under a leaf. They hibernate in a hibernaculum and continue living free in the spring (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Larva: Social; head black, with brown and white lines; body mottled reddish brown to fuscus grey (Agassiz, 1996a) (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Pupa: Illustrated by Patočka (1997a). (Bladmineerders van Europa).

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

Hosts in Great Britain and Ireland:

Rosaceae        
Cotoneaster       UKMoths
Crataegus       UKMoths
Crataegus monogyna Hawthorn British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Ben Smart (pers. comm.)
Prunus spinosa Blackthorn British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. UKMoths

Hosts elsewhere:

Rosaceae        
Cotoneaster       Belgian Lepidoptera
Cotoneaster cambricus Wild Cotoneaster British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa, as integerrimus
Crataegus       Belgian Lepidoptera
Crataegus monogyna Hawthorn British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Malus pumila Apple British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa, as domestica
Prunus domestica Wild Plum British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Prunus spinosa Blackthorn British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Belgian Lepidoptera
Prunus spinosa Blackthorn British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Pyrus communis Pear   Bladmineerders van Europa

Time of year - larvae: Larvae from autumn till in June (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Time of year - adults: July, when it can be attracted to light (UKMoths).

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Fairly common in the southern half of Britain including Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Caernarvonshire, Cumberland, Denbighshire, Derbyshire, Dorset, Dumfriesshire, East Cornwall, East Kent, East Norfolk, East Suffolk, Glamorgan, Hertforshire, Huntingdonshire, Isle of Man, Isle of Wight, Leicestershire, Middlesex, North Essex, North Hampshire, North Somerset, Nottinghamshire, Shropshire, South Essex, South Somerset, South-west Yorkshire, Stafford, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Gloucester, West Kent, West Norfolk, West Suffolk and Shetland (NBN Atlas). Recently recorded from Chorlton, Manchester (Ben Smart).

Distribution elsewhere: Widespread in continental Europe including Albania, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Corsica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Greek mainland, Hungary, Italian mainland, Kalingrad Region, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Romania, Sardinia, Slovakia, Spanish mainland, Sweden, Switzerland, and The Netherlands (Fauna Europaea).

NBN Atlas links to known host species:

Cotoneaster cambricus, Crataegus monogyna, Malus pumila, Prunus domestica, Prunus spinosa, Pyrus communis

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

External links: Search the internet:

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

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 Last updated 03-Jun-2019  Brian Pitkin Top of page