Bucculatrix demaryella
Encyclopedia
Bucculatrix demaryella is a moth
Moth
A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...

 of the Bucculatricidae
Bucculatricidae
Bucculatricidae or is a family of moths. This small family has representatives in all parts of the world. Some authors place the group as a subfamily of the family Lyonetiidae....

 family. It is found in most of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, except the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...

 and parts of the Balkan Peninsula.
The wingspan
Wingspan
The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...

 is 8-9 mm. Adults are on wing from May to early June in one generation per year.

The larvae of ssp. demaryella feed on Betula nana, Betula pendula, Betula pubescens and Corylus avellana
Corylus avellana
Corylus avellana, the Common Hazel, is a species of hazel native to Europe and western Asia, from the British Isles south to Iberia, Greece, Turkey and Cyprus, north to central Scandinavia, and east to the central Ural Mountains, the Caucasus, and northwestern Iran. It is an important component of...

, while the larvae of ssp. castaneae feed on Acer
Acer
Acer may refer to:* Acer , the genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as Maple, from the Latin word ācer meaning sharp* Acer Inc., a Taiwan-based international computer company...

species and Castanea sativa. They mine
Leaf miner
Leaf miner is a term used to describe the larvae of many different species of insect which live in and eat the leaf tissue of plants. The vast majority of leaf-mining insects are moths , sawflies and flies , though some beetles and wasps also exhibit this behavior.Like Woodboring beetles, leaf...

 the leaves of their host plant. The mine has the form of a short, full depth corridor, often along the midrib or a thick vein. Most of the mine has a thick frass
Frass
Frass is the fine powdery material phytophagous insects pass as waste after digesting plant parts. It causes plants to excrete chitinase due to high chitin levels, it is a natural bloom stimulant, and has high nutrient levels. Frass is known to have abundant amoeba, beneficial bacteria, and fungi...

line. The larvae leave the mine and engage in window-feeding. Later, it starts eating holes in the leaf. Larvae can be found from June to July. Young larvae are pale yellow with a darker head while older larvae are grey green. Pupates takes place in a greyish ochreous cocoon spun amongst debris.

Subspecies

  • Bucculatrix demaryella demaryella
  • Bucculatrix demaryella castaneae Klimesch, 1950 (Austria, Italy, Switzerland)
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