A couple of afternoons out looking for leafmines last weekend. Highlights on a quick visit to Cothill Fen (kindly shown round by Judy Webb) on 19/10 were Bucculatrix cidarella on Alder, Ectoedemia rubivora on Bramble, Phyllonorycter lantanella on Guelder Rose, Stigmella speciosa on Sycamore and Acrolepia autumnitella on Bittersweet.
I also visited the Chilswell Valley local wildlife site the next day, where highlights where again Acrolepia autumnitella on Bittersweet, Bucculatrix bechsteinella on Hawthorn, Stigmella catharticella on Buckthorn, Cosmpoterix zieglerella on Hop and Stephensia brunnichella on Wild Basil. I'm fairly sure I found Stigmella splendidissimella on Meadowsweet, as UK Leafmines doesn't give aurella as occuring on this plant - though I'm aware these two can be tricky to separate! No sign of Coleophora squamosella as well, despite searching large amounts of Blue Fleabane in a nearby field margin.
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| Stephensia brunnichella mines - Chilswell Valley |
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| Stigmella splendidissimella? Chilswell Valley |
Hi Will,
ReplyDeleteI'm really not sure if those mines on Meadowsweet are S.splendidissimella - for me the frass looks a little too dispersed in both of them. S.aurella and S.splendidissimella are notoriously difficult to separate but it appears to be accepted that in the second half of the mine the width of the frass should at the most be only 50% of the width of the corridor for splendidissimella. However, as you say, only that species seems to be known from Meadowsweet (along with S.filipendulae which your mines don't really look like). All three have different coloured larvae so finding an active mine would resolve the issue!
Thanks, Dave - I was wary of calling it too. I did find a tenanted (similar) mine on an adjacent bit of Dewberry (with other mines on Wood Avens), which I can email along.
ReplyDeleteAlways happy to have a look at pictures! Incidentally, if you go back to the Chilswell Valley next year I seem to remember that there is Wild Liquorice present on which Grapholita pallifrontana has been found (think it might well have been Judy Webb who discovered it).
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