Quercus oak
(For a dichotomous table for galls on Quercus by Hans Roskam click here)
Dichotomous table for leafminers
1a mine ending with an excision => 2
1b blotch, may have a short, quickly widening preceding corridor => 7
1c blotch, preceded by a long, slender initial corridor => 15
1d corridor from start to end => 19
1e tentiform mine => 29
1f fleck mine => 51
1g galls, etc. => Tables for all parasites per species
2a excision round, in the upper epidermis only: Tischeria decidua
2b excision round or oval, throughout the leaf => 3
3a excision oval, preceded by a short corridor the begins in the leaf base or midrib: Heliozela sericiella
3b excision round => 4
4a excision preceded by a long corridor along the leaf margin => 5
4b no preceding corridor => 6
5a excision against the leaf margin: Orchestes erythropus
5b excision somewhat deeper in the leaf blade: Orchestes avellanae
6a larva: pronotum brown, meso- and metanotum pale with two small black spots: Incurvaria masculella
6b pro-, meso- and metanotum each dorsally with a large dark transverse spot: Incurvaria koerneriella
7a frass in threads or thread fragments; mine in the tender leaves, April-May => 8
7b frass in isolated granules; mines in summer => 9
8a frass partly in long threads, loose in the mine; larva white: Dyseriocrania subpurpurella
8b frass in thread fragments, glued to the upper epidermis; larva grey: Orchestes pilosus
9a mine full depth and transparent, < 3 mm => 10
9b mine upper-surface, larger => 12
10a mine in a vein axil, triangular => 11
10b mine free in the leaf, round or oval (young mines of Incurvaria) => 6
11a deciduous oaks; larvae in July-August: Caloptilia alchimiella
11b deciduous oaks; larvae in May, then again in August: Caloptilia robustella
11b evergreen oaks: Povolnya leucapennella
12a mine with discoid cocoon that is made already at an early stage and in which the larva is often seen resting in an u-shaped position; upper epidermis rather opaque => 13
12b mine greyis-green or greenish, without a cocoon, larva never in u-posture; upper epidermis transparent: Profenusa pygmaea
13a mine with concentric dark arc-lines around a point at the side of the mine; mine never milk-white => 14
13b mine without arc-lines, milk-white, sometimes with orange tinges: Tischeria ekebladella
14a mine brick red with dark-brown arc-lines: Tischeria dodonaea
14b mine yellowish-brown with greyish-green arc-lines: Tischeria decidua (jonge mijn)
15a mine begins at an oviposition scar at the underside of a thick vein: Orchestes quercus
15b mine does not start at an oviposition scar => 16
16a corridor and blotch largely epidermal, silvery; most often a number of mines later merge into one large blotch; no egg shell visible at the start of the mines: Acrocercops brongniardella
16b mine not epidermal, hardly ever merging; corridor start from a shiny egg shell => 17
17a the blotch has a large cut from where part of the frass is being expelled: Ectoedemia subbimaculella
17b no cut in the blotch => 18
18a corridor part runs towards the midrib; larva with brown-black head; usually in yellow, often fallen, leaves, in a green island: Ectoedemia heringi
18b corridor part runs parallel to, or away from, the midrib; larva with pale brown head; usually in green leaves: Ectoedemia albifasciella
19a mine < 1 cm, hook-shaped, in a vein axil => 20
19b mine longer, not in a vein axil => 22
20a on Quercus robur: Bucculatrix ulmella
20b on Quercus rubra => 21
21a free living larva grey, mottled with white; cocoon cream or yellowish: Bucculatrix ulmella
21b free living larva uniformly white; cocoon snow white: Bucculatrix ainsliella
22a corridor does not start at a visible egg shell, runs along the leaf margin: Orchestes avellanae (young mine)
22b corridor begins at a shiny round egg shell, may run along the leaf margin => 23
23a corridor strongly contorted, egg at under surface: Ectoedemia quinquella
23b corridor strongly contorted, egg at upper surface: Ectoedemia heringella
23c corridor less strongly wound => 24
24a whole width of the corridor filled with coiled frass (green when fresh, turning brown later); larva green: Stigmella basiguttella
24b frass brown or black, in a broad or narrow central line, always leaving a clear zone at the margin (mines of the following species cannot reliably be identified without breeding) => 25
25a frass in a narrow central line, never wider than 1/3 of the corridor width => 26
25b frass coiled or dispersed, frass line wider than 1/2 of the corridor width => 27
26a corridor unusually long and slender: Stigmella roborella
26b corridor wider and shorter: Stigmella atricapitella
27a mine very long; egg at leaf under-surface: Stigmella svenssoni
27b mine not very long; egg at upper- or lower-surface => 28
28a egg usually at lower-surface; mostly close to a thick vein: Stigmella samiatella
28b egg may be at either side, usually free on the lamina: Stigmella ruficapitella
29a on evergreen oaks => 30
29b on deciduous oaks => 38
30a mine upper-surface: Phyllonorycter belotella
30b mine lower-surface = 31
31a on Quercus macrolepis:Phyllonorycter graecus
31b on Quercus trojana: Phyllonorycter trojana
31c on Quercus faginea: Phyllonorycter barbarella
31d on Quercus coccifera => 32
31e on other oaks (in particular Quercus ilex and Q. suber) => 36
32a species from the western Mediterranean Region => 33
32b species from the eastern Mediterranean => 35
33a mine very large; pupa in a flimsy cocoon, frass in a clump: Phyllonorycter endryella
33b mine smaller => 34
34a cocoon covered by frass: Phyllonorycter rebimbasi
34b unknown: Phyllonorycter cocciferella
35a species from Crete: Phyllonorycter gerfriedi
35b species from the Greek mainland: Phyllonorycter olympica
36a mine very large; pupa in a flimsy cocoon, frass in a clump: Phyllonorycter endryella
36b mine not conspiuously large => 37
37a most frass alongside the cocoon: Phyllonorycter suberifoliella
37b most frass heaped in a corner of the mine: Phyllonorycter messaniella
38a cremaster with only one pair of spines visible from above; abdomen segment 9 laterally with two pairs of short thorns; pro- and mesonotum latero-anteriorly with a pair of small spines => 39
38b cremaster seen from above with two pairs of spines; no spines laterally on abd9 or pro- and mesonotum => 40
38c mines and pupae of Phyllonorycter amseli, Phyllonorycter barbarella, Phyllonorycter kusdasi, and Phyllonorycter sublautella are not or insufficiently known
39a inner pair of cremaster spines (visible anly ventrally) wide apart; only on Quercus pubescens: Phyllonorycter delitella
39b inner pair of spines set close together: Phyllonorycter harrisella
40a abdomen 2-4 laterally with a pair of strong, outward pointing spines => 41
40b abd2-4 without such spines => 44
41a abdomen 7 ventrally with a group of outward pointing spines => 42
41b abd7 without such a group => 43
42a metanotum laterally with a pit near its rear margin: Phyllonorycter muelleriella
42b metanotum without such a pit: Phyllonorycter messaniella
43a spinulation dorsally on abdomen 9-10 extremely coarse: Phyllonorycter quercifoliella
43b spinulation here fine: Phyllonorycter parisiella
44a inner pair of cremaster spines with a very broad base: Phyllonorycter ilicifoliella
44b basis of inner and outer pairs more or less equal => 45
45a inner pair cremaster spines very short: Phyllonorycter scitulella
45b inner pair of spines not extremely short => 46
46a outer pair of cremaster spines slender, on a narrow base => 47
46b outer pair short and squat, on a broad base => 49
47a inner and outer pair of almost equal length: Phyllonorycter abrasella
47b inner pair 0.5 – 0.7 times the length of the outer pair => 48
48a metanotum laterally with a pit near its rear margin: Phyllonorycter roboris
48b metanotum without such a pit: Phyllonorycter distentella
49a cremaster ventrally as long as wide: Phyllonorycter lautella
49b cremaster shorter than wide => 50
50a frontal extension of the pronotum dorsally smooth: Phyllonorycter heegeriella
50b frontal extension of the pronotum dorsally sculptured: Phyllonorycter kuhlweiniella
51a case consists of a fragment of the stem of a plant, generally a grass: Epidola stigma
51b tubular silken case => 52
51c pistol case => 53
52a larva: mesonotum with a pair of roundish shields: Coleophora lutipennella
52b mesonotum with a pair of wedge-shaped shields: Coleophora flavipennella
53a “pistol-handle” with ear-like appendages: Coleophora currucipennella
53b pistol-handle with a short or long, transparent mantle (pallium), but no ears => 54
53c neither pallium nor ears: Coleophora anatipenella
54a pallium covering the entire case, reaching down to almost the mouth: Coleophora kuehnella
54b pallium less extensive, reaching down to halfway the mouth: Coleophora ibipennella