Nunn, Andy

Warrington, Barry

English

Repository@Hull - Worktribe

More dots on the map: further records of leafmining moths inEast YorkshireAndy D. Nunn1 and Barry Warrington21Hull  International Fisheries  Institute, School  of  Biological, Biomedical  &  EnvironmentalSciences, University of Hull, Hull, HU6 7RX, UK. Email: a.d.nunn@hull.ac.uk236 Marlborough Avenue, Hessle, HU13 0PN, UK. Email: treasurer@ynu.org.ukThe apparent scarcity of many leafmining moths in East Yorkshire (see Sutton & Beaumont,1989) is at least partly due to a lack of recorder effort, and a number of previously presumedscarce or rare moths are actually relatively widespread (Chesmore, 2008; Nunn, 2015). One ofthe  aims  of  a  previous  article  (Nunn, op.  cit.)  was,  hopefully,  to  encourage  searches  forleafminers  in  an  attempt  to  redress  the  imbalance  of  records  in  Yorkshire.  This  articlesummarises our 'leafminering' highlights from 2015.A number of sites in VC61 were searched for leafmining moths (Table 1).  Sampling effortvaried considerably between sites. AN’s ‘leafminering’ opportunities were mostly restrictedto casual observations while on family outings; BW’s focussed on sites that could be reachedusing public transport. The most time was spent in the Hessle area and a productive site inHull. In October, the authors joined Charlie Fletcher and Ian Marshall for a day in an under-recorded 10km square, concentrating on the Settrington area. North Cliffe Wood was visitedonly in late spring and early summer, and other sites were visited briefly in the autumn.Table 1. Most notable records by the authors of leafmining moths in East Yorkshire (VC61) in2015.Site NGR Most notable records2Cottingham TA0231 Oak Satin Lift Heliozela sericiella,Black-headed Pigmy Stigmella atricapitella,Common Oak Pygmy Stigmella roborella3Barred Sycamore Pigmy Stigmella speciosaFlamborough TA2169 Yarrow Case-bearer Coleophora argentulaFern Smut Psychoides filicivora4Hessle area TA0227 Elm Bent-wing Bucculatrix albedinellaFlame Neb Chrysoesthia drurellaSix-spot Neb Chrysoesthia sexguttellaMottled Purple Eriocrania sparrmannellaFern SmutBlack-headed Pigmy4Narrow-barred Pigmy Stigmella centifoliella4White-barred Alder Pigmy Stigmella glutinosae4Chestnut Pigmy Stigmella samiatella4Hull, Beverley Road TA0831 Lime Bent-wing Bucculatrix thoracellaBordered Carl Coptotriche margineaThe Naturalist 141 (2016) 101Hull, West TA0629 Birch Lift Heliozela hammoniella4Common Birch Pigmy Stigmella betulicolaDouble-barred Pigmy Stigmella continuellaNorth Cave Wetlands SE8833 Burdock Neb Metzneria lappellaNorth Cliffe Wood SE8637 Grey Alder Case-bearer Coleophora binderellaForest Case-bearer Coleophora ibipennella4Pale Feathered Bright Incurvaria pectineaRisby TA0135 Coarse Hazel Pigmy Stigmella floslactellaOak Carl Tischeria ekebladellaRowley SE9932 Garden Lance-wing Epermenia chaerophyllellaSettrington area1 SE8673 Dusty Apple Pigmy Bohemannia pulverosellaDaisy Bent-wing Bucculatrix nigricomellaDewberry Pigmy Ectoedemia rubivora4Small Elm Midget Phyllonorycter schreberellaBase-spotted Pigmy Stigmella basiguttellaScarce Thorn Pigmy Stigmella paradoxaLittle Beech Piercer Strophedra weiranaSigglesthorne TA1546 Grey-alder Midget Phyllonorycter strigulatellaSkidby TA0133 Ribwort Slender Aspilapteryx tringipennellaGarden Lance-wingSmall Alder Midget Phyllonorycter stettinensisWhite-barred Alder PigmyThwaite Gardens TA0532 Hypericum Pigmy Ectoedemia septembrellaSpotted Black Pigmy Ectoedemia subbimaculellaDark Hornbeam Midget Phyllonorycter esperellaUniversity of Hull TA0731 Larch Case-bearer Coleophora laricellaPale Thistle Case-bearer Coleophora peribenanderiAlder Lift Heliozela resplendellaPointed Groundling Scrobipalpa acuminatellaWalkington SE9936 Large Birch Pigmy Ectoedemia occultellaFern Smut1 With Charlie Fletcher and Ian Marshall2 Sampling effort varied considerably between sites3 Adult reared, identification confirmed by gen. det. (Charlie Fletcher)4 New vice county recordAs previously (Nunn, op. cit.), the relative lack of ‘leafminering’ in VC61 resulted in a numberof new VC records, namely Forest Case-bearer (on Pedunculate Oak Quercus robur),Dewberry Pigmy (on Rubus sp. - see Plate 4, centre pages), Birch Lift (on Silver Birch Betulapendula), Fern Smut (on Hart’s-tongue Fern Phyllitis scolopendrium), Black-headed Pigmy (onPedunculate Oak),  Narrow-barred  Pigmy (on  Dog-rose Rosa  canina),  White-barred  AlderPigmy (on Common Alder Alnus glutinosa) and Chestnut Pigmy (on Sweet Chestnut Castaneasativa). Other particularly notable moths included Oak Satin Lift, Common Oak Pygmy, ElmBent-wing, Flame Neb (see Plate 4, centre pages), Six-spot Neb, Mottled Purple, CommonBirch Pigmy, Grey Alder Case-bearer and Scarce Thorn Pigmy. Many of them, including BirchLift,  Fern Smut,  Black-headed Pigmy, White-barred Alder Pigmy and Chestnut Pigmy, haveprobably  been  overlooked in  the  past,  but  Forest  Case-bearer  and Dewberry Pigmy,  andThe Naturalist 141 (2016) 102possibly Narrow-barred Pigmy, may be genuinely scarce or rare in Yorkshire. For example, theForest Case-bearer larva found at North Cliffe Wood appears to be only the ninth record forYorkshire, as the records cited in Sutton & Beaumont (1989) are considered unreliable (Box,2016). Similarly, despite widespread searching, Dewberry Pigmy appears to be extremely rareoutside the Ripon area, with just a single record from elsewhere (Box, op. cit.). The status anddistribution  of  Narrow-barred Pigmy are  unclear.  Its  mine is  exceptionally  difficult,  if  notimpossible,  to distinguish  from  that  of  the  “common  but  thinly  distributed  or  restrictedresident” Rose Leaf Miner Stigmella anomalella, and it is therefore necessary to breed theadult to confirm the identity. Thus, although there is a small number of larval records fromVC63, they remain unconfirmed as adults were not reared (Box, op. cit.).Although Black-headed Pigmy, White-barred Alder Pigmy and Chestnut Pigmy are probablywidespread in Yorkshire, there were no confirmed records in VC61 until 2015, due partly touncertainties over whether they can be reliably identified to species from the mines or larvae;there appear to be some contradictions in the various resources (e.g. Ellis, 2016; Edmunds,2016; Pitkin et al., 2016) over what characteristics, if any, are diagnostic. The mines of mostoak-feeding Stigmella spp. are widely considered impossible to identify to species but JohnLangmaid, one of the UK’s leading authorities on leafmining moths, confirmed that the darkprothoracic  shield  is  a  diagnostic  feature  of  the  Black-headed  Pigmy  larva.  The  mine  ofChestnut Pigmy is also very difficult or impossible to identify on oaks, but this problem wasavoided when a mine was found on Sweet Chestnut (no other Stigmella spp. are known tomine Sweet Chestnut in the UK). Distinguishing the mines of the two alder-feeding Stigmellaspp. can also be difficult but the White-barred Alder Pigmy larva has a dark prothoracic spotwhich is absent in the Silver-barred Alder Pigmy Stigmella alnetella. Thus, although suspectedindividuals of Black-headed Pigmy, Chestnut Pigmy and White-barred Alder Pigmy have beenrecorded previously, these were the first confirmed records in VC61. By contrast, Fern Smut ispossibly limited by the distribution of its food plant (most often Hart’s-tongue but also otherferns) in VC61, but was recorded in several locations in 2015 (Table 1).This article demonstrates that, even with only relatively small amounts of effort or limitedtransport, it is possible to find a diverse range of leafmining moths,  including in urban orsuburban areas. Very few of the moths reported here were recorded in nature reserves. TheHessle area was particularly productive, due partly to the relatively large amount of effortthere, but even casual observations sometimes revealed scarce or under-recorded moths, orat least put more ‘dots on the map’ to improve our knowledge of the geographicaldistributions of common ones. Most gardens, parks or hedgerows should support a variety ofleafmining moths and we would encourage other naturalists to record them.AcknowledgementsWe would like to thank Harry Beaumont, Charlie Fletcher, John Langmaid and Dave Shentonfor verifying the identity of difficult and/or under-recorded moths.ReferencesBox, T. (2016) Yorkshire Moths Available at http://www.yorkshiremoths.info/portal, last accessedon 04/01/2016.The Naturalist 141 (2016) 103Chesmore, D. (2008) The distribution of Narycia duplicella (Goeze 1783) (Lepidoptera: Psychidae)in Yorkshire, The Naturalist 133: 101-106.Edmunds, R. (2016) British Leafminers. Available at http://www.leafmines.co.uk/index.htm, lastaccessed on 04/01/2016.Ellis, W.N. (2016) Bladmineerders. Available at http://www.bladmineerders.nl/, last accessed on04/01/2016.Nunn, A.D. (2015) Searching for leafmining moths and bagworms in East Yorkshire, The Naturalist140: 64-68.Pitkin, B., Ellis, W.N., Plant, C. & Edmunds, R. (2016) UK Fly Mines Available athttp://www.ukflymines.co.uk/index.php, last accessed on 04/01/2016.Sutton, S.L. & Beaumont, H.E. (eds) (1989) Butterflies and Moths of Yorkshire: Distribution andConservation. Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union.The Naturalist 141 (2016) 104Plate 4. Leafmining moths in VC61 (see pp101-104).Top left: Pale Thistle Case-bearer Coleophora peri-benanderi on Creeping Thistle Cirsium arvense.Top right: Mines of Dewberry Pigmy Ectoedemiarubivora on Rubus sp.A.D.NunnLower left: Mines of Flame Neb Chrysoesthiadrurella on Common Orache Atriplex patula.Lower right: Adult Flame Neb ex larva.B. Warrington

More dots on the map : further records of leafmining moths in East Yorkshire

https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/preview/443743/2016-09-29%20Nunn%20KD.pdf

More dots on the map : further records of leafmining moths in East Yorkshire

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Repository@Hull - Worktribe