Stigmella obliquella

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.

Stigmella obliquella
Stigmella obliquella genitalia preparation
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Nepticulidae
Genus:
Stigmella
Species:
S. obliquella
Binomial name
Stigmella obliquella
(Heinemann, 1862)
Synonyms

Description

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.

Eggs

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

Larva

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, Salix babylonica, Salix x chrysocoma, Salix fragilis, Salix pentandra, Salix triandra and Salix 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.

Stigmella obliquella mine

Pupa

Pupation takes place outside of the mine.

Distribution

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

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


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