Tuesday 4 May 2021

Overwintering micros from Chorleywood.

 Last autumn I collected a number of different leaf-mines and set them up to overwinter. I brought them in about a month ago, so that the warmth could encourage them to emerge early. I have to say the returns have been pretty thin on the ground, with very few adults appearing. This is not a new phenomenon for me - the mortality rate amongst insects is very high. 

I've photographed three of the ones that did come out:


Phyllonorycter joannisi, from Norway Maple. 


Phyllonorycter cerasicolella from Wild Cherry.


Antispila treitschkiella from Cornelian Cherry.

The British Antispila species were re-catalogued in 2018; what was thought to be treitschkiella was not and was recognised as petryi, but the true treitschkiella was recognised as being host-specific to Cornelian Cherry. 

5 comments:

  1. Nice one, Andy, particularly with the "proper" treitschkiella. Assuming that the mine was indeed from Bucks then that should be a county first. I've yet to find the food-plant (Cornus mas) so maybe some visits to garden centres may be on the cards! As you say, the returns from over-wintering leaf-miners are often very small, not least because so many of them seem to be parasitized.

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    1. I have to be honest, Dave; the Antispila was from Chorleywood, but from the part of it just over the border in VC 20. As you say, the problem is finding Cornelian Cherry. I couldn't identify this particular plant until March of this year, when the characteristic flowers came out. The leaves look just like dogwood to me. I think Cornelian Cherry may be a bit out of fashion and maybe not in garden centres. This one was clearly old and is in a ancient ornamental garden of a big house. Another way of locating one is to ask one of the gardeners in an public garden. This worked for me another time in Watford.

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  2. Tiny they may be, but these are beautifully marked moths.

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  3. Hi Andy, well done! Also your photos are very good.

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