| | Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genus Phyllonorycter (Lepidoptera-Gracillariidae) |
Synonymy: Phyllonorycter concomitella (Bankes). Including P. hostis Triberti (of which British material was formerly referred to cydoniella Denis & Schiffermuller), for which a diagnostic description has yet to be located
Associated with trees. On Rosaceae; Malus (P. blancardella s. str.), Cydonia, Malus, and Sorbus (P. hostis).
Larvae. The larvae mining in leaves; in the under-side. Found in July, or September to October. The larva pupating in a morphologically distinct cocoon to not constructing a definite cocoon (pupating in a large, white to yellowish, silk-lined chamber).
Pupa. The pupal cremaster with two pairs of hooked processes; two pairs of cremastal processes more or less equal in length to very unequal in length (the outer pair stouter); cremastal processes relatively short and basally broad.
Adults. Face white. Head white and brown, or orange and fuscous. Thorax brown and white (anteriorly, or copper-brown, sometimes with a posterior white spot); without a median pale streak. Wing-span 8–9 mm. Forewings golden orange, or golden brown; not clear shining white; with a well defined basal streak. The basal streak pale; straight, neither markedly long and slender nor sinuate (or slightly curved, extending about a third the length of the wing, and sometimes coalescing with the top of the first dorsal strigula); dark-edged above (and often below towards the apex). Forewings with well defined pale strigulae (white). Costal strigulae 4. Dorsal strigulae 2, or 3–4 (then with one or two inside the fringe line). Forewings with the first costal strigula approaching a dorsal one at an acute angle; without transverse pale fasciae. Forewings with conspicuous dark apical marking. Forewing apical marking comprising a dark apical strigula. The forewing fringe narrowly dark-lined along the bases of the cilia. The forewing basal fringe line complete. Hindwing cilia fuscous (or somewhat brown). Posterior tarsi with dark spots.
The left and right male genital valvae similar in size and form (flat, more or less linear, blunt tipped). The left male genital valva not spine-tipped. The left and right male genital valvae having free costae. The left and right free costae completely detached from the valvae; markedly different (the right almost as long as its valva, the left much reduced in size, but both having long, straight apical spines). The aedeagus long and relatively slender with a triangular barb towards the apex. The female genitalia exhibiting a signum on the bursa copulatrix (double pointed below).
Adults abroad April to May, July to August.
General comments. Adequate descriptions and illustrations for distinguishing British species of the ‘blancardella group’ (P. blancardella and P. hostis) have yet to be incorporated.
Illustrations. • Phyllonorycter blancardella (with synonymous P. concomitella): Jacobs (1945). • Two forms of Phyllonorycter blancardella, with food-plant. Phyllonorycter blancardella. The form depicted at the left was formerly recognized as a distinct species (P. concomitella). Malus sylvestris (crab apple) from Curtis. • Mainland-european P. cydoniella (cf. P. blancardella) and 5 other species: Hübner, 1796–1819. • Phyllonorycter cydoniella (cf. P. blancardella, = P. hostis?: I. Kimber (2018), UKmoths https://ukmoths.org.uk/. • Phyllonorycter blancardella (as concomitella), genitalia: Pierce and Metcalfe (1935).
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2003 onwards. Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genus Phyllonorycter (Lepidoptera-Gracillariidae) Version: 14th April 2022. delta-intkey.com’.
