Phyllonorycter platani (Staudinger, 1870)
london midget
Platanus hispanica, Hungary, Mosonmagyaróvár, 2.vi.2018 © László Érsek
same leaf, underside
opened mine with larva
opened mine with cocoon
Platanus hispanica, Amstelveen
upperside of a mine
Platanus hispanica, Belgium, prov. Luxembourg, Rachecourt: now and then upper-surface mines are found; © Jean-Yves Baugnée
Platanus orientalis, Bulgaria, Varna © Stéphane Claerebout: two initial galleries (lighted from behind)
mine
The mine begins as an epidermal corridor, sometimes several cm in length. This widens into a shallow, greyish green, irregularly lobed blotch. The fully developed mine is an orange brown tentiform mine with a number of length folds. Almost all mines are lower-surface. The upperside of the mine then is a mottled oval, because the larva here and there has eaten holes in the roof of the mine, i.e., the palissade parenchyma.
host plants
Platanaceae, monophagous
Platanus acerifolia, occidentalis, orientalis.
phenology
Larvae until late in autumn (November); in the Netherlands three generations. Mines of the summer and autumn generation are much larger than those of the spring generation, because the leaf tissue later in the season is less nutritious, forcing the larvae to consume more (van Frankenhuyzen, 1983a). Successive generations live higher in the canopy (Milevoj, 2004a). Hibernation as pupa in the fallen leaf.
BENELUX
BE recorded (Phegea, 2009).
NE first recorded in 1965 (van Frankenhuyzen, 1983a)
LUX not recorded
distribution within Europe
All Europe south of Oslo, but not (yet?) in Ireland (Fauna Europaea, 2009).
larva
pupa
cocon
synonyms
Lithocolletis platani.
inquilines
parasitoids, predators
Baryscapus nigroviolaceus; Minotetrastichus frontalis; Pediobius saulius; Sympiesis gordius, xanthostoma.
notes
The species has undergone a strong expansion of its area (Sefrová, 2001a).
Trees can be heavily infested, not rarely with c. 10 mines per leaf. The number of young mines (most probably abortive) may be even much larger. Nevertheless, the trees do not seem to be negatively affected (Burger ao, 1984a).
references
Aguiar & Karsholt (2006a), Beiger (1979a), Bengtsson & Johansson (2011a), Bouček (1959a), Burger ao (1984a), Burmann (1980a), Buszko (1992b), Buszko & Beshkov (2004a), Corley (2005a), Corley, Rosete, Gonçalves ao (2016a), Csóka (2003a), Deutsch (2012a), Deutschmann (2008a), Drăghia (1970a), Emmet (1985a, 1991a), Flügel (2011a), van Frankenhuyzen (1983a), van Frankenhuyzen & Houtman (1972a), van Frankenhuyzen Houtman & Kabos (1982a), Gregor & Patočka (2001a), Grandi 1931a, 1933a), Hartig (1939a), Hering (1927a, 1936b, 1957a), Huemer & Erlebach (2003a), Jaworski (2009a), Kirichenko, Augustin & Kenis (2018a), Klimesch (1950c), Kollár (2007a), Kollár & Hrubík (2009a), Kuchlein & Donner (1993a), Kuchlein & de Vos (1999a), Kvičala (1938a), Lhomme (1934c), Maček (1999a), Matošević, Pernek, Dubravac & Barić (2009a), Milevoj (2004a), Nel & Varenne (2014a), Olivella (2002a), Parenti & Varalda (2000a), Patočka & Turčáni (2005a), Plóciennik, Pawlikiewicz & Jaworski (2011a), Principi (1953a), De Prins (1998a, 2007a), De Prins, De Prins & De Coninck (2003a), De Prins & Steeman (2013a), Pröse (1984a), Sefrová (2001a, 2005a), Skala (1941a, 1951a), Stammer (2016a), Starý (1930a), Szőcs (1977a, 1978a, 1981a), Ureche (2010a), Utech (1962a).