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

 

Agromyza viciae Kaltenbach, 1872
[Diptera: Agromyzidae]

Agromyza viciae Kaltenbach, 1872.


Leaf-miner: Oviposition in the tip of a leaflet; this causes an intensive red colouring of the distal part of the leaflet. From there a primary blotch develops, that in the end occupies almost the entire leaflet. At first the mine is upper-surface, but gradually deeper parts of the mine are eaten away, leading to a very transparent mine. Frass fine-grained, quickly deliquescent. Pupation outside the mine (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Larva: The larvae of flies are leg-less maggots without a head capsule (see examples). They never have thoracic or abdominal legs. They do not have chewing mouthparts, although they do have a characteristic cephalo-pharyngeal skeleton (see examples), usually visible internally through the body wall.

The larva is illustrated in Bladmineerders van Europa.

Puparium: The puparia of flies are formed within the hardened last larval skin or puparium and as a result sheaths enclosing head appendages, wings and legs are not visible externally (see examples).

The puparium is illustrated in Bladmineerders van Europa.

Agromyza viciae puparium
Agromyza viciae puparium
Image: © Willem Ellis (Bladmineerders van Europa)

Hosts in Great Britain and Ireland:

Fabaceae        
Vicia       Gibbs and von Tschirnhaus, 2006

Hosts elsewhere:

Fabaceae        
Vicia grandiflora     Bladmineerders van Europa
Vicia hirsuta Hairy Tare British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Vicia sativa Common Vetch British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Vicia sepium Bush Vetch British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa

Time of year - mines: Larvae observed in the second half of June (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Time of year - adults: Currently unknown.

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Currently unknown.

Distribution elsewhere: Widespread in continental Europe including Germany, Poland, Switzerland (Fauna Europaea); recently found also in the Norway (Gibbs and von Tschirnhaus, 2005a).

NBN Atlas links to known host species:

Vicia hirsuta, Vicia sativa, Vicia sepium

British and Irish Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere:

Chalcidoidea  
Chrysocharis crassiscapus (Thomson, 1878) Eulophidae: Entedoninae
Ichneumonoidea - Links to species no longer available  
Exotela dives (Nixon, 1954) Braconidae: Alysiinae
Exotela melanocera (Thomson, 1895) (as Antrusa) Braconidae: Alysiinae


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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