Make it Mine

Whilst out yesterday, alongside the sawfly larva I found on alder were a few leaf mines. Most vacated, but I found a couple that are tenanted.

These are, I think, Phyllonorycter rajella - quite a smart one when freshly emerged and photographed nicely, so here's hoping ....

Upperside and underside of the same leaf. The right hand mine (viewed on the underside) is tenanted

But not sure whether a larva or pupa - it wiggles when gently nudged

Not sure on this one though - a blotch which is evident on the upperside and barely discernible on the underside. There is a live larva in the blotch, again here's hoping ....

Post-script - confirmed as Fenusa dohrnii.

I had a short-lived spurt of enthusiasm for leaf-mines in 2017. After the very hot and sunny spring and early summer, the weather has been a bit crap for nearly three weeks now. The burst of invert overload is all but over, so perhaps leaf-mining is something to generate a bit of interest over the next couple of months.

More Mining Mumblings

It's seems that I may have the mining bug after all. I've managed to have a quick poke around a few trees lately and keep finding a couple more new mines each time. I'm also sarting to gain a bit more confidence in my ability to identify the mine, once I've managed to identify the plant! All that I've posted on forums for confirmation have been positive so far. Before I post a few more photos of leaves, here's one that I managed to get out from one. It's from the sycamore blister mines I posted last Monday, and so far two of these have emerged from the pupae that were within .....

Phyllonorycter geniculella - mine collected 07/08/2017, adult emerged 14/08/2017

Now for some leaves. I'm still trying to perfect a method of photographing them, but at the moment I'm going with a scanned image of the whole leaf for context, and a back-lit close up of the mine to show the frass/feeding pattern where appropriate. I'm using the USB microscope to check for egg position where necessary, but the photos of that are not that enlightening.

First up, here's a couple more from Market Bosworth CP last Wednesday evening.

Vacated mine on cultivated 'paper-bark birch'. Gallery mine with linear frass pattern conforms to Stigmella confusella.

Vacated blotch mine on alder. The position of the blotch between veins, and the distinct single crease along the center of the mine on the underside confirms to Phyllonorycter rajella. The other mine on this leaf, a folded 'tent' on the edge with larval feeding and frass inside, is possibly Caloptilia falconipennella, but that's a scarce moth in VC55 and I'm not confident enough on that one to record the mine.

And here's a couple from the Ulverscroft Priory area on Saturday ......

Vacated mine on beech. The egg position is on the underside right up against the mid-rib amongst the hairs is absolutely key to this one, and otherwise the gallery mine with dispersed frass (not coiled) is right for Stigmella tityrella.

This vacated gallery mine on lime has the egg on the underside, and the early part of the mine shows the feeding on the underside only. The frass pattern is odd on this one as it fills the mine rather than being linear, but feedback from the leafminers forum agrees that this is Stigmella tiliae.

That's enough part-eaten leaves full of shite for now. Here's a couple from the garden trap to sign off.

Dioryctria abietella

Agriphila geniculea