Phytomyza origani Hering, 1931
Origanum vulgare, young mine; Belgium, prov. Namur, Andenne, Andenelle © Jean-Yves Baugnée
Origanum vulgare, St. Pietersberg: old mine
Origanum vulgare, België, prov. Liège, Carrière de la Falize © Carina Van Steenwinkel
completed mine with puparium
detail
Origanu, vulgare, Belgiu, prov. Namur, Furfooz, Parc National de Furfooz © Stéphane Claerebout: young mine
same mine, lighted from behind
same mine, two days later
transparency
the fresh puparium (formed externally)
mine
Essentially a corridor mine. It begins as a tiny upper-surface spiral. The corridor at this point is so narrow and closely wound that it rather resembles a simple spot. Next follows a simple corridor running towards the leaf tip, often following the leaf margin for some distance. In the leaf apex a quite long corridor is made, while the mine is laid in loops that are so close that a secondary blotch results, with prominent secondary feeding lines. The final section of the mine again is a simple corridor, in the end of which pupation takes place. Before pupating the larva already has made a semicircular slit in the epidermis. Not infrequently the puparium falls out (Hering, 1957a).
host plants
Lamiaceae, monophagous
Origanum vulgare.
phenology
Larvae between May and August (Hering, 1957a).
BENELUX
BE recorded (JY Baugnée, Andenne).
NE recorded (Ellis: St. Pietersberg).
LUX recorded (Ellis: Dudelange).
distribution within Europe
From Lithuania to the Iberian Peninsula, and from the UK to Bulgary (Fauna Europaea, 2008).
larva
Nowakowski (1959a).
notes
The frass pattern in this species is very unusual, because the frass is not deposited in two lines, as is the rule in Agromyzidae. Especially young mines therefore may easily been taken for the work of a beetle like Apteropeda.
references
Beiger (1960a, 1979a), Bland (1994c), Buhr (1932a, 1941b, 1964a), Černý & Merz (2005a, 2006a, 2007a), Černý, Vála & Barták (2001a), Ci̇velek, Çikman & Dursun (2008a), Dreger & Myssura (2005a), Guglya (2021a), Eiseman & Lonsdale (2022a), Hartig (1939a), Hering (1931a, 1936b, 1957a, 1967a), Michalska (1970a), Nowakowski (1959a), Robbins (1991a), Sønderup (1949a), Spencer (1959a, 1972a,b, 1974a, 1976a), von Tschirnhaus (1999a).