Psychoides verhuella Bruand, 1853

hart’s-tongue smut

Asplenium trichomanes, Belgium, prov. Liège: Ben-Ahin, Lovegnée-Bosquet: mines; © Jean-Yves Baugnée

cases

Asplenium scolopendrium, Belgium, prov. Namur, Spy © Jean-Yves Baugnée

Psychoides verhuella: 'case' and exuvium

Asplenium ruta-muraria, Belgium, prov. Namur, Parc National de Furfooz © Stéphane Claerebout

mine

Full-depth corridor or blotch, often positioned along the leaf margin. In the first part much, brown-black, fine-grained frass, later parts of the mine almost free from frass. Hering (1962a) writes that the larva is able to leave the mine and begin again elsewhere, and also that the larva ejects part of the frass from the mine. Neither detail is repeated by Buhr (1964a). After hibernation the larva lives free in an untidy case of silk, covered with frass and remnants of sori. From this case it may mine, or cause lower-surface window feeding.

host plants

Aspleniaceae, Dennstaedtiaceae; narrowly polyphagous

Asplenium ceterach, ruta-muraria, scolopendrium, trichomanes; Pteridium aquilinum.

phenology

Mining larvae from autumn till May the next year (Hering, 1957a).

BENELUX

BE recorded (Phegea, 2009).

recorded (Muus, 2015a).

LUX not recorded (Fauna Europaea, 2007).

distribution within Europe

From the British Isles to Central Europe (Pelham-Clinton, 1985a).

larva

pupa

In the larval case, often on the hostplant (Pelham-Clinton, 1985a).

synonyms

Lamprosetia, Teichobia verhuellella Stainton, 1854.

references

Beiger (1960a, 1965a), Buhr (1964a), Hering (1957a, 1962a), Klimesch (1950c, 1951b, 1956c, 1958c), Muus (2015a), Pelham-Clinton (1985a), Robbins (1991a), Schütze (1931a), Starý (1930a), Szőcs (1977a, 1978a), Vávra, Liška, Němý ao (2008a).