Leucoptera spartifoliella

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Leucoptera spartifoliella
Leucoptera spartifoliella, Borras Quarry, North Wales, June 2012 (20659461295) .jpg

Leucoptera spartifoliella

Systematics
Order : Butterflies (Lepidoptera)
Superfamily : Yponomeutoidea
Family : Longhorn leaf miners (Lyonetiidae)
Subfamily : Cemiostominae
Genre : Leucoptera
Type : Leucoptera spartifoliella
Scientific name
Leucoptera spartifoliella
( Huebner , 1813)
Doll

Leucoptera spartifoliella is a small butterfly from the longhorn leaf miner family .

features

The tiny silky white moths are 3–4 mm long and have a wingspan of 7–9 mm. In the outer area of ​​the forewings there are several characteristic brown-yellow spots, so that two distinctive dark spots can be seen behind the moth when at rest. The moths have relatively long antennae .

distribution

Leucoptera spartifoliella is widespread in Europe. The species is also widespread in Great Britain , but only occurs locally on the island of Ireland . The species is absent in the Balkans . The species was introduced in California in 1960 for plant protection purposes. The butterfly caterpillars damage the broom that is introduced there . In Australia , Leucoptera spartifoliella was also introduced for plant protection purposes . In New Zealand the species was introduced in the second half of the 20th century, but now also plays an important role in the control of the broom there.

Way of life

The caterpillars mine in the branches of the broom ( Cytisus scoparius ), preferably of young plants. In late spring , the caterpillars pupate in white cocoons on the branches of their host plants. The caterpillars are very host-specific. Besides broom, only Cytisus purgans is known as a host plant. Leucoptera spartifoliella can severely impair the growth of the host plants and lead to their death. The adult moths appear in June and July.

Natural enemies

An important parasitoid of Leucoptera spartifoliella is Baryscapus evonymellae (syn. Tetrastichus evonymellae ), a species of ore wasp from the family Eulophidae . This lays its eggs on the butterfly caterpillars of the first caterpillar stage. However, their hosts are only killed during pupation.

Taxonomy

The following synonyms can be found in the literature :

  • Leucoptera cytisanthi Deschka , 1972
  • Tinea punctaurella Haworth , 1828
  • Tinea spartifoliella Huebner , 1813

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Leucoptera spartifoliella . www.ukmoths.org.uk. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
  2. ↑ a b Leucoptera spartifoliella - Scotch broom twig miner . bugguide.net. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
  3. ↑ a b c Entry on Leucoptera spartifoliella in the BioPesticide Properties DataBase (BPDB) of the University of Hertfordshire , accessed on June 7, 2018.
  4. ↑ a b Leucoptera spartifoliella in Fauna Europaea. Retrieved June 7, 2018
  5. ↑ a b c d e f Sue Scheele, P. Syrett: The broom twigminer, Leucoptera spartifoliella (Lepidoptera: Lyonetiidae), in New Zealand (PDF, 542 KB) New Zealand Entomologist 1987 (1): 133-137. February 2012. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
  6. ↑ Twig-mining Moth Leucoptera spartifoliella (Hübner, 1813) . www.biolib.cz. Retrieved June 7, 2018.

Web links

Commons : Leucoptera spartifoliella  - collection of images, videos and audio files