Orchestes rusci (Herbst, 1795)
on Betula
Betula pendula, Russia, Moscow region, Ramensky district, village Zhukovo, 18.vi.20118 © Andrey Ponomarev
same mine, lighted from behind
now with excision
cocoon
imago, with frass and feeding traces

Betula pendula, Belgium, prov. Antwerp, Retie, Prinsenpark, 25.v.2014 © Carina Van Steenwinkel

Betula pendula, Belgium, prov. East Flanders, Ename, Volkegembos, 23.v.2015 © Carina Van Steenwinkel

Betula pendula, Spanderswoud, 24.vi.2006

Betula pubescens, Amstelveen, JP Thijssepark, 6.vii.2008: the excision is almost finished

frass pattern
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.
parasitoids, predators
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)