Lithospermum officinale, Overveen

Symphytum officinale, Neerijnen

Omphalodes verna, Amsterdam: frass

Cynoglossum, Amsterdamse Waterleidingduinen: part of an initial corridor

Cynoglossum officinale, Cadzand-Bad: youth mines

mine

The mine begins with a narrow, parallel sided corridor af 1-8 cm in length, with a nice double frass line. After the first moult the corridor is succeeded, and mostly overrun, by a large, primary, brown blotch. Frass in the initial corridor in short thread fragments, in the blotch in angular granules and thread fragments that often are branching (the frass is unusually sticky). Primary and secondary feeding lines conspicuous. The final mine often is very large and generally contains several larvae, because normally several mines develop on a leaf, and coalesce into one big blotch. Before pupation the larvae leave the mine through a semicircular exit slit that mostly, but not invariably, is in the upper epidermis.

host plants

Boraginaceae, oligophagous

Aegonychon purpurocaeruleum; Amsinckia (?); Anchusa azurea, capensis, officinalis; Asperugo procumbens; Borago officinalis; Brunnera macrophylla; Buglossoides arvensis; Cerinthe glabra, minor; Echium candicans, italicum, plantagineum, vulgare; Cynoglossum cheirifolium, creticum, officinale; Lappula squarrosa; Lindelofia longiflora; Lithospermum officinale; Lycopsis arvensis; Myosotis alpestris, arvensis, laxa subsp. caespitosa, ramossissima, scorpioides, sylvatica; Nonea pulla; Omphalodes verna; Onosma visianii; Pentaglottis sempervirens; Podonosma; Pulmonaria maculata, mollis, montana, obscura, officinalis, rubra; Solenanthus apenninus; Symphytum officinale, tuberosum.

What Buhr (1932a) had in mind with “Rinderia canescens” is not clear.

phenology

Larvae in May-June and August-November (Hering, 1957a).

BENELUX

BE observed (Ellis).
NE Already de Meijere (1924a) found the species common in the dunes (on Hound’s-tongue).
LUX observed (Ellis).

distribution within Europe

From Scandinavia to the Iberian Peninsula and Italy, and from Ireland to Roumania (Fauna Europaea, 2007); also Turkey (Cikman & Civelek, 2005a).

larva

puparium

synonyms

Agromyza echii Kaltenbach, 1860; A. rufipes: auct. nec Meigen, 1830. The erroneous interpretation of the name rufipes has persisted until a revision by Nowakowski (1964a).

parasitoids, predators

Miscogaster rufipes; Sphaeripalpus fuscipes.

notes

Generally, several mines develop on a larger leaf, fusing into a mine that can be as huge as to almost occupy a lower leaf of a comfrey plant. Mines at this stage are extremely similar to those of Agromyza ferruginosa. In the latter species the eggs are laid in a small group, from where the larvae upon hatching start by making a broad initial corridor, working shoulder to shoulder. Traces of a one-larva initial corridor therefore are a sure sign of A. abiens.
Om smaller leaves the mines cannot de distinguished from those of Agromyza lithospermi. So long aa the larvae of that species remain undescribed, and also until the host plant spectre of that species is definitely established, all identifications of abiens-like mines on small leaves must remain tentative.

references

Ahr (1966a), Amsel & Hering (1933a), Beiger (1955a, 1960a, 1965a, 1970a, 1979a), Beuk (2002a), Bland, 1977a, Buhr (1932a, 1941b, 1964a), Černý (2004a, 2007a, 2011a), Černý, Andrade, Gonçalves & von Tschirnhaus (2018a), Černý & Merz (2006a, 2007a), Černý & Vála (1996a, 1999a, 2006a), Černý, Vála Barták (2001a), Cikman & Civelek (2005a), Ci̇velek, Çikman & Dursun (2008a), Civelek, Tonguc, Ozgul & Dursun (2007a), Dempewolf (2001a), Drăghia (1967a, 1968a, 1971a, 1972a), van Frankenhuyzen, Houtman & Kabos (1982a), Gil Ortiz (2009a), Guglya (2021a, 2025a), Hartig (1939a), Hering (1924a, b, 1925a, 1932b,g, 1955b, 1957a, 1967a), Huber (1969a), Kabos (1971a), Kvičala (1938a), Maček (1999a), de Meijere (1895a, 1925a), Michalska (1970a, 1972a, 1976a), Michna (1975a), Niblett (1956a), Nowakowski (1954a, 1964a), Pakalniškis (1983a), Papp & Černý (2015a), Pârvu (2005a), Popescu-Gorj & Drăghia (1968a), Robbins (1991a), Seidel (1957a), Skala (1941a, 1951a), Stammer (2016a), Skala & Zavřel (1945a), Sønderup (1949a), Spencer (1957f, 1967a, 1972a,b, 1973c), Starke (1942a), Starý (1930a), Stolnicu (2008a), Süss (1982a), von Tschirnhaus (1999a), Ureche (2010a), Utech (1962a), Zoerner (1969a).