Heterarthrus nemoratus (Fallén, 1808)
Betula pubescens, Mantingerzand
Betula pendula, België, prov. Limburg, Koersel © Carina Van Steenwinkel
same mine, lighted from behind
larva in the mine; the arrow points to a slit along the midrib, probably used the eject frass
Betula pendula, Belgium, prov. Antwerp, Mol © Carina Van Steenwinkel:leaf with old mine and cocoon
mine
Large blotch, beginning at the leaf margin (there no accumulation of frass). The oldest part of the mine with a characteristic, wine red colour. Most of the frass is ejected through a narrow slit in the leaf margin (sometimes also along the midrib). The larva makes an discoidal cocoon within the mine. Hibernation in the larval stage.
host plants
Betulaceae, monophagous
Betula humilis, pubescens, pendula.
phenology
Larvae in August – September (Altenhofer, 1980b).
BENELUX
BE recorded (Fauna Europaea, 2008).
NE recorded (van Ooststroom 1976a); rare.
LUX not recorded (Fauna Europaea, 2008).
distribution within Europe
From Sweden and Finland to the Pyrenees, Italy (not quite cetain) and Romania, and from Ireland to the Ukraine (Fauna Europaea, 2008).
larva
Ripper (1931a), Lorenz & Kraus (1957a), Lindquist (1959a) and Smith (1971a) describe the larva. Thoracal feet reduced to stumps. Prosternum with a large dark patch; meso- and metasternum with a small dark spot. Pronotum with a large rectangular black sclerite. In the prepual stage, when the larva does not feed any more, all pigmentation has disappeared.
synonyms
Phyllotoma nemorata.
parasitoids, predators
Hemiptarsenus ornatus; Sympiesis sericeicornis.
notes
Around 1927 accidentally introduced into the United States New Hampshire, Massachusetts), causing large-sclae damage to the birch forests (“In areas where white birch was the predominating tree whole hillsides and valleys appeared as if fire had swept through the stands”) (Ripper, 1931a).
The specis parthenogenetic (Brown 1959a). Preference for the older leaves (Lindquist, 1959a).
references
Altenhofer (1980b, 2003a), Blank ao (1998a), Bouček (1959a), Brown (1959a), Buhr (1941a, 1964a), Digweed ao (2009a), Heibo, Lønnve, Barstad ao (2014a), Hering (1927b, 1937c, 1957a), Kirichenko, Augustin & Kenis (2018a), Kozlov, van Nieukerken, Zverev & Zvereva (2013a), Kruse, Smith & Schiff (2010a), Lindquist (1959a), Liston (1995b), Liston, Mutanen & Viitasaari (2019a), Looney, Smith, Collman, ao (2016a), Lorenz & Kraus (1957a), Michalska (1976a), Nyman, Zinovjev, Vikberg & Farrell (2006a), van Ooststroom (1976a), Pieronek (1962a), Pieronek & Soltyk (1993a), Pschorn-Walcher & Altenhofer (2000a), Pschorn-Walcher & Taeger (1995), Ripper (1931a), Robbins (1991a), Scobiola-Palade (1974a), Skala (1951a), Skala & Zavřel (1945a), Smith (1971a), Sønderup (1949a), Taeger, Blank & Liston (2006a), Taeger ao (1998a), Viramo (1969a), Wahlgren (1944a, 1963a).