Phytomyza jucunda Frost & Sasakawa, 1954

on Ilex

Ilex crenata, Belgium, prov. Limbourg, Kerkhoven, den Tip, 12.i.2016 © Carina Van Steenwinkel; det. Miloš Černý

underside of a leaf with preformed exit opening; the anterior spiracula penetrate the epidermis.

Ilex crenata, Belgium, prov. Limbourg, Kerkhoven, den Tip, 12.i.2016 © Carina Van Steenwinkel; det. Miloš Černý

exit opening, with anterior spiracula

Ilex aquifolium, Belgium, prov. Limbourg, Kerkhoven, den Tip, 10.ii.2018 © Carina Van Steenwinkel; det. Miloš Černý

underside of a leaf with preformed exit opening; the anterior spiracula penetrate the epidermis.

parasite

Upper surface gallery, initially narrow and often for some length following the leaf margin, gradally strongly widening and then, specially in small leaves, forming a secondary blotch. Frass in small grains, forming an continuous black line almost in in the centre of the gallery (very unusual in Agromyzidae). Pupation in the mine; at the underside of the leaf a circular exit opening is prepared, closed by the epidermis. The, strikingly bifid anterior horns of the puparium protrude through the epidermis.

host plants

Aquifoliaceae, monophagous

Ilex aquifolium, crenata.

Less often on the indigenous holly.

BENELUX

Observed in Belgium and the Netherlands (Dek & Van Steenwinkel, 2018a).

notes

A potential threat for commercial holly cultivation.

references

Dek & Van Steenwinkel (2018a), Sasakawa (1961a), Warrington (2021a).