Betula pendula, Belgium, prov. Antwerp, Retie, Prinsenpark © Carina Van Steenwinkel

mine

A rather stubby, gradually widening, corridor that usually begins near the leaf tip and descends along the leaf margin (especially in the first generation). The larva lies venter-upward in the mine. Finally an almost perfectly circular excision is cut, in which the larva drops to the ground for pupation.

host plants

Betulaceae, monophagous

Betula humilis, nana, pendula, pubescens.

phenology

Larvae in May-June, in two generations (Hering, 1957a; Scherf, 1964a). However, Rheinheimer & Hassler (2010a) write of but one generation, of which the adults emerge in July.

BENELUX

BE recorded (Curculionidae).

NE recorded (Heijerman, 1993a; Vorst, 2010a).

LUX not recorded (Fauna Europaea, 2010).

distribution within Europe

From the British Isles and France till Poland, Roumania and Italy (Fauna Europaea, 2007).

larva

synonyms

Rhynchaenus rusci.

notes

Morris (1993a) calls the species common in the UK; this certainly does not apply to the Netherlands. Roques (1998a) mentions also Populus nigra as a host plant, but his description of the mine (‘long, slender, winding’) suggests that he had a different species before him.

references

Ahr (1966a), Bachmaier (1965a), Braunert (2017a), Buhr (1933a, 1964a), Caillol (1954a), Haase (1942a), Heijerman (1993a), Hering (1924b, 1927b, 1930a, 1957a), Kozlov, van Nieukerken, Zverev & Zvereva (2013a), le Monnier (2003a), Morris (1993a), Nowakowski (1954a), Rheinheimer & Hassler (2010a), Robbins (1991a), Roques (1998a), Roques, Cleary, Matsiakh & Eschem (2017a), Scherf (1964a), Seidel (1926a), Skala (1951a), Sønderup (1949a), Viramo (1962a), Vorst (2010a), Zoerner (1969a)