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

 

Adscita geryon (Hübner, 1813)
[Lepidoptera: Zygaenidae]

Cistus Forester


Sphinx geryon Hübner, 1813. Samml. Europ. Schmett.: t. 28, figs. 130-131
Adscita geryon (Hübner, 1813).


Leaf-miner: Young larvae make a number of rather large, untidy full depth mines. The mines contain little or no frass. The lower-surface opening, by which the larva has entered the mine, is irregularly roundish. Older larvae live free on the plant (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Larva: The larvae of moths have a head capsule and chewing mouthparts with opposable mandibles (see video of a gracillarid larva feeding), six thoracic legs and abdominal legs (see examples).See Tremewan (1985a) (Bladmineerders van Europa). The larva pupates in a cocoon near the ground (Belgian Lepidoptera).

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

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

Hosts in Great Britain and Ireland:

Cistaceae        
Helianthemum nummularium Common Rock-rose British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Pitkin & Plant
Helianthemum nummularium Common Rock-rose British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. UKMoths

Hosts elsewhere:

Cistaceae        
Helianthemum nummularium Common Rock-rose British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Helianthemum nummularium Common Rock-rose British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Belgian Lepidoptera

Time of year - larvae: July till May the following year (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Time of year - adults: June and July (UKMoths). They are active during the day and both sexes visiting flowers. They have a slow flight (Belgian Lepidoptera).

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Occurs mainly in the south, but there are scattered colonies further north in such places as Cumbria and North Wales. This local species is found mainly on limestone outcrops and chalky habitats (UKMoths); Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Caernarvonshire, Cheshire, Cumberland, Denbighshire, Derbyshire, Dorset, Durham, East Gloucestershire, East Kent, East Sussex, Flintshire, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, North Somerset, North Wiltshire, North-east Yorkshire, North-west Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, South Hampshire, South Wiltshire, South-east Yorkshire, South-west Yorkshire, Stafford, West Gloucestershire, West Kent, West Lancashire, West Suffolk, West Sussex, Westmorland and Worcestershire (NBN Atlas).

Distribution elsewhere: Widespread in continental Europe including Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, French mainland, Germany, Greek mainland, Hungary, Italian mainland, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Republic of Moldova, Poland, ? Portuguese mainland, Romania, Russia - South, Sicily, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spanish mainland, Switzerland, Ukraine and Yugoslavia (Fauna Europaea).

NBN Atlas links to known host species:

Helianthemum nummularium

British and Irish Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere:

Ichneumonoidea - Links to species no longer available  
Cotesia geryonis (Marshall, 1885) Braconidae: Microgastrinae
Olesicampe fulviventris (Gmelin, 1790) Ichneumonidae: Campopleginae


External links: Search the internet:

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

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Last updated 10-Jul-2019  Brian Pitkin Top of page