Maple moth
| Maple moth | ||||||||||||
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Maple Moth ( Caloptilia rufipennella ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Caloptilia rufipennella | ||||||||||||
| ( Huebner , 1796) |
The maple moth ( Caloptilia rufipennella ) (Hübner, 1796) is a species from the family of leaf miners (Gracillariidae). It reaches a wingspan of about 11-12 millimeters and has conspicuously cinnamon-red front wings. You can find it in the summer months.
designation
While the dwarf leaf miner is known as the maple leaf miner , Caloptilia rufipennella from the family of real leaf miners is only called the maple moth. The maple moth lives in rolled up leaves, the maple miner moth in the fruits.
Appearance
The forewings are chocolate brown to copper, mostly cinnamon red with a white to yellow-greenish band along the wings. A few specimens are also yellow-red and have tiny black spots on the forewings. The legs are chocolate brown and have a striking white band on the front feet. The larvae are greenish and have a light head.
Occur
The flight time begins in August, then the moths overwinter and fly again in spring. The larvae feed from June to October with the tip in July.
distribution
The moth is native to all of Europe except Ireland and the Balkan Peninsula.
Way of life
The larvae of the maple moth live as miners mainly in the leaves of the sycamore maple . During the first larval stages they mine inside the leaf next to the leaf veins . The mine begins as an inconspicuous, superficial, epidermal duct. It widens to a smaller triangular spot, usually in the axilla of two leaf veins. The mine is almost transparent and about 6 mm long. Later in the year the leaf tips are rolled up and gnawed off from the inside. In the last larval stage they build a bag-shaped roll in which they gnaw the leaf surface. Older larvae live in the cone twisted from the leaf tips. During their development, the larva makes three, more rarely two, such cones, which are getting bigger and bigger, not always on the same leaf. Pupation takes place in a pupation web in leaf cones or a membrane-like yellowish cocoon on the underside of the leaves. The moths hatch in August. They overwinter and can be found again next spring.
food
The larva mainly mines sycamore maple ( Acer pseudoplatanus ). However, it was also found on Norway maple ( Acer platanoides ), silver maple ( Acer saccharinum ), ash maple ( Acer negundo ) and snowball maple ( Acer opalus ). Reports from the Netherlands about the occurrence of the field maple ( Acer campestre ) are assessed as uncertain by other sources.
Web links
- Lepiforum e. V. Taxonomy and Photos
- Caloptilia rufipennella at Fauna Europaea
- Ian Kimber: Guide to the moths of Great Britain and Ireland (English)
- Naturhistoriska riksmuseet: Caloptilia rufipennella Photos and text (Swedish)
Individual evidence
- ^ Richard G. Albrecht Graf von Albrechtshaus: Naturschutzgebiet Albrechtshaus , Lulu.com, ISBN 9781446773482 , accessed on July 1, 2015
- ↑ Norfolkmoths: Caloptilia rufipennella , accessed July 1, 2015
- ↑ a b c d e f g Bladmineerders: Caloptilia rufipennella ( Memento of July 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) ( Dutch , English )
- ↑ UKmoths: Caloptilia rufipennella , accessed July 1, 2015
- ↑ Lepiforum , July 1, 2015