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

 

Sphaeroderma testaceum (Fabricius, 1775)
[Coleoptera : Chrysomelidae]


Sphaeroderma testaceum (Fabricius, 1775)


Leaf-miner: Long corridor, often following the leaf margin, with little frass and with the sides irrregularly eaten out. The first part of the corridor is full depth and makes a few close loops; the later part is more upper-surface and rather wide. Primary feeding lines often conspicuous. No morphological differences are known between the larva of S. rubidum and S. testaceum (Steinhausen, 1994a). However, there is a phenological difference: the larva of testaceum hibernates in the mine and continues feeding after winter; S. rubidum vacates the mine before winter and pupates in the soil. Hering (1957a) suggests that the identification of the beetles is an easy matter, but that is contradicted by Warchalowski (2003a). (Bladmineerders van Europa)

Larva: The larvae of beetles have a head capsule and chewing mouthparts with opposable mandibles and lack abdominal legs (see examples).

According to Cox (2007a) both S. rubidum and S. testaceum hibernate as larvae! (Bladmineerders van Europa)

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

Hosts in Great Britain and Ireland:

Asteraceae        
Carduus       Dave Hubble, pers. comm.
Centaurea nigra Common Knapweed   Dave Hubble, pers. comm.
Cirsium       Dave Hubble, pers. comm.

Hosts elsewhere:

Asteraceae

       
Arctium       Bladmineerders van Europa
Carduus acanthoides     Bladmineerders van Europa
Carduus nutans

Musk Thistle

British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Carduus pycnocephalus

Plymouth Thistle

British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Centaurea       Bladmineerders van Europa
Cirsium acaule Dwarf Thistle British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Cirsium arvense Creeping Thistle British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Cirsium eriophorum Woolly Thistle British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Cirsium oleraceum

Cabbage Thistle

British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Cirsium palustre

Marsh Thistle

British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Cirsium tuberosum

Tuberous Thistle

  Bladmineerders van Europa
Cirsium vulgare

Spear Thistle

British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Cynara scolymus     Bladmineerders van Europa
Onopordum acanthium

Cotton Thistle

British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Serratula       Bladmineerders van Europa

Time of year - larvae: Larvae live from August until June next year (Hering, 1957a).

Time of year - adults: Currently unknown.

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Widespread in Britain including Anglesey, Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Breconshire, Buckinghamshire, Caernarvonshire, Cambridgeshire, Cardiganshire, Cheshire, Carmarthenshire, Cumberland, Denbighshire, Derbyshire, Dorset, Dumfriesshire, East Cornwall, East Gloucestershire, East Kent, East Norfolk, East Suffolk, East Sussex, Fife, Flintshire, Glamorgan, Isle of Man, Isle of Wight, Leicestershire, Merionethshire, Mid-west Yorkshire, Middlesex, Monmouthshire, Montgomeryshire, North Somerset, North-east Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Pembrokeshire, RAdnorshire, Shropshire, South Essex, South Hampshire, South Lancashire, West Norfolk, West Suffolk, West Sussex, Westmorland and Wigtownshire (NBN Atlas).

Also recorded in Ireland (InvertebrateIreland Online).

Distribution elsewhere: Widespread in Europe including Albania, Austria, Balearic Is., Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Crete, Croatia, Cyprus, Cyclades Is., Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, French mainland, Germany, Greek mainland, Hungary, Italian mainland, Kaliningrad Region, Latvia, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia - Central and South, Sicily, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spanish mainland, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Ukraine and Yugoslavia. Also recorded from the Near East and Nearctic (Audisio in Fauna Europaea).

NBN Atlas links to known host species:

Carduus nutans, Carduus pycnocephalus, Centaurea nigra, Cirsium acaule, Cirsium arvense, Cirsium eriophorum, Cirsium oleraceum, Cirsium palustre, Cirsium tuberosum, Cirsium vulgare, Onopordum acanthium

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



External links: Search the internet:

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

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