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

 

Pseudoswammerdamia combinella (Hübner, 1786)
[Lepidoptera: Yponomeutidae]

Copper-tipped Ermel


Tinea combinella Hübner, 1786. Beitr. Ges. Schmett. 1 (1): 5.
Pseudoswammerdamia combinella
(Hübner, 1786).


Leaf-miner: The small larvae leaf-mining at first, and later living externaly in a silken web (UKMoths).

Body dull yellowish, dorsal line yellowish green, a subdorsal line of dull red dots. Head pale yellowish (Agassiz, 1996a). (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Mine of Pseudoswammerdamia combinella on Prunus spinosa
Mine of Pseudoswammerdamia combinella on Prunus spinosa
Image: © Willem Ellis (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).

Body dull yellowish, dorsal line yellowish green, a subdorsal line of dull red dots. Head pale yellowish (Agassiz, 1996a) (Bladmineerders van Europa).

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

See Patocka and Turcáni (2005a) (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        
Prunus spinosa Blackthorn British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. Pitkin & Plant
Prunus spinosa Blackthorn British Wild Flowers by John Somerville et al. UKMoths

Hosts elsewhere:

Rosaceae        
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

Time of year - larvae: July - September (Agassiz, 1996a) (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Time of year - adults: Flying in May and June, the adults are sometimes attracted to light (UKMoths).

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Distributed throughout most of Britain (UKMoths) including Bedfordshire, Breconshire, Caernarvonshire, Cambridgeshire, Carmarthenshire, North Northumberland, Denbyshire, Dorset, Durham, East Cornwall, East Kent, East Norfolk, East Suffolk, Glamorgan, Haddington, Herefordshire, Huntingdonshire, Isle of Wight, Kirkudbrightshire, Montgomeryshire, North Essex, North Somerset, North-west Yorkshire, Pembrokeshire, Shropshire, South Aberdeenshire, South Devon, South Northumberland, South Somerset, Stafford, West Cornwall, West Gloucestershire, West Kent, West Norfolk, West Perthshire, West Suffolk and Worcestershire (NBN Atlas), the Channel Is. (Fauna Europaea).

Also recorded in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (Fauna Europaea and National Biodiversity Data Centre Map).

Distribution elsewhere: Widespread in continental Europe including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, French mainland, Germany, Hungary, Italian mainland, Macedonia, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Romania, Sardinia, Sicily, Slovakia, Spanish mainland, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands and Ukraine (Fauna Europaea).

NBN Atlas links to known host species:

Prunus spinosa

British and Irish Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere:

Ichneumonoidea - Links to species no longer available  
Campoplex tumidulus Gravenhorst, 1829 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
Find using Google
Find using Google Scholar
Find images using Google


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Last updated 11-Jul-2019  Brian Pitkin Top of page