Stigmella obliquella

Stigmella obliquella
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nepticulidae
Genus:	Stigmella
Species:	S. obliquella
Binomial name
	Stigmella obliquella; (Heinemann, 1862)
Synonyms
	List Nepticula obliquella Heinemann, 1862; Nepticula babylonicae Hartig, 1949; Nepticula diversa Glitz, 1872; Nepticula wockeella Heinemann, 1871; ;

Stigmella obliquella is a moth of the family Nepticulidae which feeds on willow (Salix species) and can be found in Asia and Europe. It was first described by Hermann von Heinemann in 1862.

Description edit

The wingspan is 4.6–6 mm. The head is orange, the collar yellow-white. Antennal eyecaps yellow-white. Forewings are coarse, dark brown basal to the yellowish cross fascia, apex black. Hindwings grey. Adults are on wing from April to May and again in August.

Life cycle edit

Eggs edit

Laid on either side of a leaf of one of the smooth-leaved willows in May–June or August–September.^[1]

Larva edit

The larva is amber-yellow with a brown head and has a faint chain of pear-shaped dark ventral spots.^[2]

The larvae feed on Salix alba, S. babylonica, Salix x sepulcralis 'Chrysocoma', Salix x fragilis, S. pentandra, S. triandra and S. viminalis. They mine the leaves of their host plant feeding inside a widening corridor. Its course is variable, but generally it contains several long nearly straight segments.^[3]

Stigmella obliquella mine

Pupa edit

Pupation takes place outside of the mine.

Distribution edit

It is found in all of Europe (except the Balkan Peninsula), east to eastern Russia and China.

References edit

^ Emmet, A E (1988). A Field Guide To The Smaller British Lepidoptera (Second ed.). London: British Entomological & Natural History Society. p. 24.
^ Emmet, A M (1983). Heath, John (ed.). The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland. Volume 1. Colchester: Harley Books. p. 229. ISBN 0-946589-15-1.
^ Brian Pitkin; Willem Ellis; Colin Plant; Rob Edmunds (12 July 2019). "'Stigmella obliquella' [Lepidoptera: Nepticulidae] in Leaf and stem mines of British flies and other insects". www.ukflymines.co.uk. Retrieved 18 August 2022.

External links edit

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[1] Emmet, A E (1988). A Field Guide To The Smaller British Lepidoptera (Second ed.). London: British Entomological & Natural History Society. p. 24.

[mbgbi1-2] Emmet, A M (1983). Heath, John (ed.). The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland. Volume 1. Colchester: Harley Books. p. 229. ISBN 0-946589-15-1.

[3] Brian Pitkin; Willem Ellis; Colin Plant; Rob Edmunds (12 July 2019). "'Stigmella obliquella' [Lepidoptera: Nepticulidae] in Leaf and stem mines of British flies and other insects". www.ukflymines.co.uk. Retrieved 18 August 2022.

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