Review of 2019 and 2020 - Moths: Pigmies (Nepticulidae) (part 4: Ectoedemia)

PIGMIES (NEPTICULIDAE) (continued)


Black-spot Sallow Pigmy Ectoedmia intimella - None.  Although scarce, this is a widespread species in Norfolk so probably occurs round here.  I've not found it yet, although I did gen det one that Geoff Turner caught at Weybourne in 2019.

male Black-spot Sallow Pigmy Ectoedemia intimella, caught by Geoff Turner at Weybourne between 30th June and 4th July 2019

New Poplar Pigmy Ectoedmia hannoverella - None recorded as being in 2019 or 2020 but in 2019 some emerged from leafmines I had collected from Lynford on 13th October 2018.  From these mines, 3 males and 1 female emerged on 14th April with another female the following day.  I had knowingly collected only 5 mines but a sixth moth resembling hannoverella appeared in my study on 21st April.  Based on external appearance this should have been either hannoverella or turbidella and as the only poplar leaves I had collected were all from the same tree, it was presumably a hannoverella from an unseen second mine in one of those leaves.  The genitalia weren't entirely clear as although from the top they resembled hannoverella, in side view the valvae showed a distinct tooth (but pointing the wrong way for turbidella).

male New Maple Pigmies Ectoedemia hannoverella, 14th April, emerged from mines collected from Lynford, 13th October 2018 (lower two photos show the same individual)

Five-spot Pigmy Ectoedmia quinquella - An occupied mine at the meadows on 30th September 2019.  I've not recorded this species at home yet, and no adults anywhere.

occupied mine of Five-spot Pigmy Ectoedemia quinquella, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 30th September 2019

New Holm-Oak Pigmy Ectoedmia heringella - None.  I've not found this species locally but it's widespread enough to be plausible.


White-banded Pigmy Ectoedmia albifacsciella - A female in my moth trap on 29th June 2019 was new for the garden.

female White-banded Pigmy Ectoedemia albifasciella, North Elmham, 29th June 2019

Spotted Black Pigmy Ectoedmia subbimaculella - I've struggled identifying this species in the past but although their genitalia are rather similar to some other similar-looking species (or at least species that can look similar when worn) I think I've figured out where I was getting confused.  Even so, I have left some 'probables' go as unrecorded to be on the safe side.  Confirmed individuals trapped at home included singles on 24th June, 4th and 13th July and 2 on 26th July 2019, 26th June and 16th and 23rd July 2020.  Also 2 at Weybourne on 5th July 2019 and 2 at the meadows on 23rd June 2020.  This is possibly the commonest species of Neptulicid in my garden trap.  Also occupied mines recorded at the meadows in October and November 2019.

male Spotted Black Pigmy Ectoedemia subbimaculella, North Elmham, 4th July 2019

male Spotted Black Pigmy Ectoedemia subbimaculella, North Elmham, 13th July 2019

female Spotted Black Pigmy Ectoedemia subbimaculella, North Elmham, 26th July 2019

male Spotted Black Pigmy Ectoedemia subbimaculella, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 23rd June 2020

female Spotted Black Pigmy Ectoedemia subbimaculella, North Elmham, 26th June 2020

male Spotted Black Pigmy Ectoedemia subbimaculella, North Elmham, 23rd July 2020

White-spot Pigmy Ectoedmia heringi - occupied mines found at the meadows on 22nd and 27th October 2019.  I'm yet to find an adult of this species.

occupied mine of White-spot Pigmy Ectoedemia heringi, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 22nd October 2019

Broken-barred Pigmy Ectoedmia angulifasciella - None.  I've not come across this species yet but it looks like it's pretty widespread so it probably occurs locally.


Pinch-barred Pigmy Ectoedmia atricollis - None.  I've not come across this species locally but it's another widespread species that probably occurs round here.


Large Birch Pigmy Ectoedmia occultella - None recorded as being in 2019 or 2020 but one emerged in 2019 from leafmines I had collected from Lynford on 13th October 2018.

female Large Birch Pigmy Ectoedemia occultella, 16th April 2019, emerged from mines collected from Lynford, 13th October 2018

Next page: Opostegidae plus

Lynford leafmines

It was the Norfolk Moth Survey's annual autumn leaf-mining event on 13th October and this year we were at Lynford.  I'm rubbish at leaf-mines so turned up hoping to learn, and thankfully there was plenty of expertise on hand.  I didn't race round making sure I saw every single leaf-mine that anyone found, but tried to get a name for everything I was able to photograph at least, so my account won't be anything like a complete list of what was found that day.

I took a small number of leaves home with me with a view to attempting to rear them through over the winter.  I've not done this before and I don't think I got the technique exactly right (I got some good advice on the day but didn't have all the materials handy to follow it in full).  I hoped it was close enough and as I write this in the spring, moths are just starting to emerge.

I took some Poplar leaves home with me containing mines of New Poplar Pigmies Ectoedemia hannoverella.  There were loads of these on the ground so I took several in order to maximise my chances of success, and these have been the first to emerge.  In fact I think I took five leaf-mines back with me and five moths have emerged - 4 on (or shortly before) 14th April and 1 on 15th April.

leaf-mine of New Poplar Pigmy Ectoedmia hannoverella, Lynford, 13th October

New Poplar Pigmies Ectoedmia hannoverella, 14th April, emerged from mines collected from Lynford, 13th October (top two images are same individual)

A couple of days later a Large Birch Pigmy Ectoedemia occultella also emerged.

leaf-mine of Large Birch Pigmy Ectoedmia occultella, Lynford, 13th October

Large Birch Pigmy Ectoedmia occultella, 16th April, emerged from mines collected from Lynford, 13th October

Other Ectoedemia species included Five-spot Pigmy Ectoedemia quinquella and Hypericum Pigmy Ectoedemia septembrella.

leaf-mines of Five-spot Pigmies Ectoedmia quinquella, Lynford, 13th October

leaf-mines of Hypericum Pigmies Ectoedmia septembrella, Lynford, 13th October

There was also this strange one that instead of mining leaves mines the bark.  Oak-bark Pigmy is an aggregate pair - you can't tell if it is Ectoedemia atrifrontella or Ectoedemia longicaudella without rearing them through, and due to the nature of their mines they can be quite hard to collect in order to do that.  Consequently neither species has been confirmed in Norfolk yet.

leaf-mine of Oak-bark Pigmy agg. Ectoedmia atrifrontella/longicaudella, Lynford, 13th October

Other Nepticulids included Double-barred Pigmy Stigmella continuella, Barred Sycamore Pigmy Stigmella speciosa, Sallow Pigmy Stigmella salicis*, Coarse Hazel Pigmy Stigmella floslactella, Beech Pigmy Stigmella hemargyrella, Chestnut Pigmy Stigmella samiatella, Rose Leaf-miner Stigmella anomalella, Apple Pigmy Stigmella malella, Buckthorn Pigmy Stigmella catharticella, Scarce Maple Pigmy Stigmella aceris and Nut-tree Pigmy Stigmella microtheriella.

*Apparently they reckon that salicis in fact comprises several different species. They're not properly named yet, but these apparently belonged to what they're currently calling 'section 6'.

leaf-mine of Double-barred Pigmy Stigmella continuella, Lynford, 13th October

leaf-mine of Barred Sycamore Pigmy Stigmella speciosa, Lynford, 13th October

leaf-mine of Sallow Pigmy Stigmella salicis (section 6), Lynford, 13th October

leaf-mine of Coarse Hazel Pigmy Stigmella flosilactella, Lynford, 13th October

leaf-mine of Chestnut Pigmy Stigmella sanuatella, Lynford, 13th October

leaf-mine of Rose Leaf-miner Stigmella anomalella, Lynford, 13th October

leaf-mine of Appe Pigmy Stigmella malella, Lynford, 13th October

leaf-mine of Buckthron Pigmy Stigmella catharticella, Lynford, 13th October

leaf-mine of Scarce Maple Pigmy Stigmella aceris, Lynford, 13th October

leaf-mine amd larva of Nut-tree Pigmy Stigmella microtheriella, Lynford, 13th October

There were quite a few Phyllonorycter mines too, including Garden Midget Phyllonorycter messaniella, London Midget Phyllonorycter platani, Hawthorn Midget Phyllonorycter corylifoliella, Willow Midget Phyllonorycter viminiella, Common Alder Midget Phyllonorycter rajella, Broad-barred Midget Phyllonorycter froelichiella, Red Hazel Midget Phyllonorycter nicellii and Dark Alder Midget Phyllonorycter klemannella, plus the closely related Willow Bent-wing Phyllocnistis saligna.

leaf-mine of London Midget Phyllonorycter platani, Lynford, 13th October with caterpillar emerging from slit

leaf-mine of Hawthorn Midget Phyllonorycter corylifoliella, Lynford, 13th October

leaf-mines of Common Alder Midget Phyllonorycter rajella, Lynford, 13th October

leaf-mines of Broad-barred Midget Phyllonorycter froelichiella, Lynford, 13th October

leaf-mine of Red Hazel Midget Phyllonorycter nicellii, Lynford, 13th October

leaf-mine of Willow Bent-wing Phyllocnistis saligna, Lynford, 13th October

I suspect I won't get a Willow Midget Phyllonorycter viminiella emerging as I got this emerging instead.  I think it's a chalcid wasp, and I think they parasitise things like Phyllonorycter larvae.  I hope I'm wrong though, but if not I enjoyed the wasp too, though I don't think I've got much chance of identifying it.  Tricky to photograph at hardly more than 1.5 mm long...

unidentified chalcid wasp, 14th April, emerged from a pot containing leaf-mine of Willow Midget Phyllonorycter viminiella collected from Lynford, 13th October

I could see a bit more detail through the microscope but it's always hard to get decent quality images through there.  I don't think the colour balance is quite right, but it was pretty bright!

the same unidentified chalcid wasp, 14th April, emerged from a pot containing leaf-mine of Willow Midget Phyllonorycter viminiella collected from Lynford, 13th October

leaf-mine of Willow Midget Phyllonorycter viminiella, Lynford, 13th October

I also had a beetle come out of the pot that contained the Southern Midget Phyllonorycter dubitella leaf-mine.  I haven't identified the beetle yet, but not sure if that had come from the leaf or the compost I put in with the leaf-mine, but while I was looking at it another chalcid wasp appeared like the last one.  I am not 100% sure, but I think it came from the same pot so I doubt if that will emerge either, although I think I had more than one mine in the pot so I won't give up hope on that yet.

leaf-mines of Southern Midget Phyllonrycter dubitella, Lynford, 13th October

Other leafmines included Oak Carl Tischeria ekebladella, Alder Lift Heliozela resplendella, Broom Bent-wing Leucoptera spartifoliella, Buckthorn Bent-wing Bucculatrix frangutella, Hazel Slender Parornix devoniella, Hedge Cosmet Cosmopterix zieglerella and Common Cloaked Shoot Gypsonoma dealbana.

leaf-mine of Oak Carl Tischeria ekebladella, Lynford, 13th October

leaf-mine of Alder Lift Heliozela resplendella, Lynford, 13th October

leaf-mine of Broom Bent-wing Leucoptera spartifoliella, Lynford, 13th October (lower photo shows egg at the start of the mine, a close up of the left hand end of the upper photo)

leaf-mine of Buckthorn Bent-wing Bucculatrix frangutella, Lynford, 13th October

leaf-mine of Hazel Slender Parornix devoniella, Lynford, 13th October

leaf-mine of Hedge Cosmet Cosmopterix zieglerella, Lynford, 13th October

leaf-mine of Common Cloaked Shoot Gypsonoma dealbana, Lynford, 13th October

There were also some cases found for Coleophora, including Buff Birch Case-bearer Coleophora milvipennis, Larch Case-bearer Coleophora laricella and Yarrow Case-bearer Coleophora argentula.

larval case of Buff Birch Case-bearer Coleophora milvipennis, Lynford, 13th October

larval case of Larch Case-bearer Coleophora laricella, Lynford, 13th October

With James Emerson and Graham Moates on hand there were a few fly mines identified too.  The ones I noted down were Agromyza alnivora, Agromyza anthracina and Agromyza sulfuriceps.

leaf-mine of Agromyza alnivora, Lynford, 13th October

leaf-mine of Agromyza anthracina, Lynford, 13th October

leaf-mine of Agromyza sulfuriceps, Lynford, 13th October

There were some other things too, like this sawfly mine of Metallus albipes.

leaf-mine of Metallus albipes, Lynford, 13th October

There were some non-mining caterpillars found too.  Best was this Pale Tussock caterpillar, although the Yarrow Pug was scarcer.

Pale Tussock caterpillar, Lynford, 13th October

Yarrow Pug caterpillar, Lynford, 13th October

There was also this hoverfly larva, not that I would have had a clue that that was what it was if other people hadn't told me.

hoverfly larva, Lynford, 13th October

A couple of adult moths were seen too: Notch-wing Button Acleris emargana and Nut-bud Moth Epinotia tenerana.  Other adult insects included the caddisfly Anabolia nervosus and the leafhopper Allygus mixtus.

Alygus mixtus, Lynford, 13th October

A new bug for me was Corizus hyoscyami - there were at least 3 on some Storksbill.

Corizus hyoscyami, Lynford, 13th October

I also found this aphid on me as I was rummaging through some Sycamore foliage.  I'm not sure it's a safe enough ID to officially record it but I'm pretty sure it's a Sapling Sycamore Aphid Drepanosiphum acerinum, probably 4th instar or thereabouts.

presumed Sapling Sycamore Aphid Drepanosiphum acerinum, Lynford, 13th October

Another interesting thing we found was an Alder Tongue gall, a chemically-induced distortion of alder catkins caused by the fungus Taphrina alni.

Alder Tongue gall caused by Taphrina alni, Lynford, 13th October

Other galls were caused by Willow Redgall Sawfly Pontania proxima.