Stigmella microtheriella

Stigmella microtheriella
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nepticulidae
Genus: Stigmella
Species:
S. microtheriella
Binomial name
Stigmella microtheriella
(Stainton, 1854)[1]
Synonyms[2]
  • Nepticula microtheriella Stainton, 1854

Stigmella microtheriella, the Hazel leaf miner moth, is a moth of the family Nepticulidae.[3] It is found in Asia, Europe and New Zealand. The larvae mine the leaves of hazel (Corylus species) and hornbeams (Carpinus species). It was described by the English entomologist, Henry Tibbats Stainton in 1854 from a type specimen found in England.

Taxonomy

This species was first described by Henry T. Stainton in 1854 and originally named Nepticular microtheriella.[4] It was subsequently placed in the genus Stigmella.[5][3] The female type specimen is held at the Natural History Museum, London.[6]

Description

S. microtheriella in New Zealand.

The wingspan is 3–4 millimetres (0.12–0.16 in).The head is ochreous-yellowish, the collar ochreous-whitish. The antennal eyecaps are ochreous-whitish. The forewings are purplish-fuscous with a rather oblique shining whitish fascia beyond middle. The apical area beyond this is darker and more purple. The hindwings are grey.[4][7][8][9]

Adults are on wing in May and again in August.[10] The moths are parthenogenetic.[11]

Egg

Laid on the underside of a leaf, usually near a rib on hazel (Corylus avellana) and sometimes hornbeam (Carpinus betulus).[11] Other recorded host are Oriental hornbeam (Carpinus orientalis), Turkish hazel (Corylus colurna), the filbert (Corylus maxima), European hop-hornbeam (Ostrya carpinifolia) and American hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana).

Larvae
Stigmella microtheriella mine

Yellow with a bright green gut; the head is light brown. They feed venter (belly) upwards. The mines are narrow and often angular and the linear frass fills less than half of the mine. The mine widens gradually but is never wider than the width of the larva.[12][13]

Cocoon

Yellowish brown or pinkish on the ground.[13]

Distribution

This species is found in all of Europe. It is also present in the eastern Palearctic realm and the Australasian realm, where it is found in New Zealand.[2]

S. microtheriella was introduced to New Zealand from Britain between 1850 and 1860 likely as a result of Mr Smith, from Smith's Ford in the Maitai Valley in Nelson, importing hazel trees from Britain.[6] As at 1989 in New Zealand this species has only been observed in Nelson, at the Maitai Valley and at the grounds of Broadgreen Historic House in Stoke.[6] However since this date it has spread throughout the North and South Islands and is regarded as an agricultural pest for those farming Hazel species.[14]

Etymology

The moth was described by Stainton from a specimen found in England, and he assigned the moth to the genus Nepticula, from neptis – a granddaughter; potentially the smallest member of a family and referring to the moths small size. It was later moved to the genus Stigmella. Stigma – ″a brand, a small spot″, from the moths small size, or more likely from a conspicuous, sometimes metallic, fascia on the wings of many of the moths in the genus. When described, the moth was thought to be the smallest, hence microtheriella; micros – small and therion – a little creature.[15]

References

  1. ^ "Stigmella microtheriella (Stainton, 1854)". Fauna Europaea. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  2. ^ a b Dugdale , J. S. (23 September 1988). "Lepidoptera - annotated catalogue, and keys to family-group taxa". Fauna of New Zealand. 14. Department of Scientific and Industrial Research: 54. doi:10.7931/J2/FNZ.14. ISSN 0111-5383. Wikidata Q45083134.
  3. ^ a b van Nieukerken, Erik; Doorenweerd, Camiel; Hoare, Robert; Davis, Donald (2016-10-31). "Revised classification and catalogue of global Nepticulidae and Opostegidae (Lepidoptera, Nepticuloidea)". ZooKeys (628): 65–246. Bibcode:2016ZooK..628...65V. doi:10.3897/zookeys.628.9799. ISSN 1313-2970. PMC 5126388. PMID 27917038.
  4. ^ a b Stainton, H. T (1854). Insecta Britannica : lepidoptera : tineina. London: Lovell Reeve. p. 302 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  5. ^ Fletcher TB, Clutterbuck CG (1945) Microlepidoptera of Gloucestershire, 7.: Proceedings of the Cotteswold Naturalists' Field Club 28: 58-66.
  6. ^ a b c Hans Donner; Christopher Wilkinson (28 April 1989). "Nepticulidae (Insecta: Lepidoptera)". Fauna of New Zealand. 16. Department of Scientific and Industrial Research: 29. doi:10.7931/J2/FNZ.16. ISSN 0111-5383. OCLC 924829916. Wikidata Q45079930.
  7. ^ Meyrick, Edward (1895). A handbook of British lepidoptera. London: Maomillan. p. 720 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  8. ^ Zagulajev, A.K., 1987 Nepticulidae (Stigmellidae); in G.S. Medvedev (ed.): Keys to the insects of the europaean part of the USSR, Vol.IV: Lepidoptera, part 1 (english translation), Oxonian Press Pvt.Ltd., New Dehli, 1987
  9. ^ Emmet, A. M., 1976. Nepticulidae. — In: J. Heath (ed.). The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland 1: 171—267, pls. 1—7, 11, 12.
  10. ^ "Stigmella microtheriella". UK moths. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  11. ^ a b Emmet, A M (1988). A Field Guide to the Smaller British Lepidoptera (Second ed.). London: British Entomological and Natural History Society. p. 30. ISBN 0-9502891-6-7.
  12. ^ "Stigmella microtheriella (Stainton, 1854)". Bladmineerders.nl. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  13. ^ a b Heath, John (1983). Eriocraniidae. In The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland. Volume 1. Colchester: Harley Books. p. 260. ISBN 0-946589-15-1.
  14. ^ "A leaf miner in no hurry to go anywhere" (PDF). scionresearch.com. March 2005. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 February 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
  15. ^ Emmet, A Maitland (1991). The Scientific Names of the British Lepidoptera. Their history and meaning. Colchester: Harley Books. pp. 45–7. ISBN 0-946589-35-6.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stigmella microtheriella.