Stigmella salicis

Stigmella salicis is a moth of the family Nepticulidae which is found in Europe. It was first described by the English entomologist, Henry Stainton in 1854. The type locality is from England.

Stigmella salicis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nepticulidae
Genus:	Stigmella
Species:	S. salicis
Binomial name
Stigmella salicis (Stainton, 1854)
Synonyms
Nepticula salicis Stainton, 1854 Nepticula arbusculae Klimesch, 1951 Nepticula auritella Skala, 1939 Nepticula dewitziella Sorhagen, 1885 Nepticula libiezi Dufrane, 1949 Nepticula salicella Herrich-Schaffer, 1855 Nepticula salicivorella Doubleday, 1859 Nepticula uniformis Heinemann, 1871

Description

The wingspan is 4–6 millimetres (0.16–0.24 in)The thick erect hairs on the head vertex are ferruginous-orange. The collar is paler. The antennal eyecaps are whitish. The front wings are fuscous or dark fuscous, faintly purplish-tinged, somewhat sprinkled with pale yellowish with an ochreous-whitish rather oblique fascia beyond middle. The apical area beyond this sometimes more blackish; outer half of cilia ochreous-white. Hindwings grey.^{[1] [2][3][4]} Microscopic examination of the genitalia is essential for correct determination.

The moth is bivoltine (i.e. has two generations a year). In Great Britain adults are on wing from April to May and again from July to August. The flight period may be different in other parts of its range. The type locality is from England.^[5]

Life cycle

Egg

Eggs are laid on the underside of a rough-leaved willow leaf, usually concealed in the down close to a rib and can be found in May and August to September.^[5][6]

Larva

Larva, feed internally within a leaf and are amber-yellow with a pale brown head.^[7] They can be found in June and July and again from September to November.^[8]

Mine showing the frass

They mine the leaves of their host plant, in a gallery which can be variable and highly contorted. The mine starts comparatively wide and is initially almost filled with frass. Later there are clear margins and the frass becomes broken. The mine can follow a leaf margin, a rib or can be highly contorted. It later widens to form a blotch, or if highly contorted with 'S' bends, a false blotch.^[5] The larvae feed on Myrica gale^{[a 1]}, Salix alba, Salix atrocinerea, Salix aurita, Salix babylonica, Salix caprea, Salix cinerea, Salix daphnoides, Salix fragilis, Salix lanata, Salix pentandra, Salix purpurea, Salix repens, Salix silesiaca, Salix triandra and Salix viminalis.^[8] Mines on the narrow-leaved willows can be difficult to distinguish from those of S. obliquella.^[6]

Pupa

The pupa is in a yellowish-brown cocoon spun in detritus and can be found in July and August, and from November through to April.^[6]

Distribution

S. salicis is found in Europe (except Iceland and Greece).^[9]

Notes

1. Occasionally occurs on Myrica (Myricaceae).