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

 

Epinotia nanana (Treitschke, 1835)
[Lepidoptera: Tortricidae]

Small Spruce Bell


Coccyx nanana Treitschke, 1835. Schmett. Europ. 10 (3): 80
Epinotia nanana
(Treitschke, 1835).


Leaf-miner: The larva mines about five needles completely out, moving from one needle to the other by way of a silken tube along the twig. Most frass remains in the tube. The larva mines all its life. Pupation external, often in the tube (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).

Off white to brownish, head, pronotum and thoracic feet black. Prolegs with c. 22 crochets in a single row. Anal comb absent (Bradley et al., 1979a; Swatschek, 1958a) (Bladmineerders van Europa).

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 Adriaan Peeters. The species is included in mothdissection.co.uk.

Hosts in Great Britain and Ireland:

Pinaceae        
Picea       Pitkin & Plant

Hosts elsewhere:

Pinaceae        
Abies alba Silver fir   Belgian Lepidoptera
Picea abies Norway Spruce British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Belgian Lepidoptera
Picea abies Norway Spruce British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa
Picea sitchensis Sitka Spruce British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Bladmineerders van Europa

Time of year - larvae: Autumn until April or May (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Time of year - adults: Currently unknown.

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Widespread in Britain including Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Cardiganshire, Dorset, Durham, East Gloucestershire, East Kent, East Norfolk, East Suffolk, Glamorgan, Hertfordshire, Leicestershire, Linlithgow, North Essex, North Northumberland, North Somerset, Pembrokeshire, South Northumberland, Stafford, West Cornwall, West Gloucestershire, West Norfolk, West Suffolk, Westmorland and Worcestershire (NBN Atlas).

Also recorded in the Republic of Ireland (Fauna Europaea).

Distribution elsewhere: Widespread in continental Europe including Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Hungary, Italian mainland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Romania, Russia - Central, North and Northwest, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spanish mainland, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands. Also recorded in East Palaearctic and Nearctic region (Fauna Europaea).

NBN Atlas links to known host species:

Picea abies, Picea sitchensis

British and Irish Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere:

Ichneumonoidea - Links to species no longer available  
Dolichogenidea lineipes (Wesmael, 1837) Braconidae: Microgastrinae
Glypta tenuicornis Thomson, 1889 Ichneumonidae: Banchinae
Enytus apostatus (Gravenhorst, 1829) Ichneumonidae: Campopleginae
Hyposoter boops (Thomson, 1887) Ichneumonidae: Campopleginae
Hyposoter brischkei (Bridgman, 1882) Ichneumonidae: Campopleginae
Hyposoter clausus (Brischke, 1880) Ichneumonidae: Campopleginae
Enclisis vindex (Tschek, 1871) Ichneumonidae: Cryptinae
Gelis areator (Panzer, 1804) Ichneumonidae: Cryptinae
Phaeogenes planifrons Wesmael, 1845 Ichneumonidae: Ichneumoninae
Tycherus suspicax (Wesmael, 1845) Ichneumonidae: Ichneumoninae
Exochus tibialis Holmgren, 1858 Ichneumonidae: Metopinae
Hypsicera curvator (Fabricius, 1793) Ichneumonidae: Metopinae
Triclistus niger (Bridgman, 1883) Ichneumonidae: Metopinae
Zatypota percontatoria (Müller, 1776) Ichneumonidae: Pimplinae


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

Find using Google
Find using Google Scholar
Find images using Google


XHTML Validator
Last updated 18-Oct-2019  Brian Pitkin Top of page