Heliozela hammoniella Sorhagen, 1885
birch lift
Betula pubescens, Lauwersmeer, Ballastplaatbos; © Corrie van As: vacated mine with excision
Betula pubescens, Belgium, prov. Namur, Nismes © Stéphane Claerebout: vacated mine
detail of the excision
Betula pubescens, Belgium, prov. Antwerp, Mol, © Carina Van Steenwinkel: mine with an exceptionally long gallery section
mine
The larva begins its life as a borer in the pith of a twig. Only when it is almost full grown it enters a petiole, then the midrib, of a leaf. The leaf becomes starved that way, and turns somewhat pale (Hering, 1957a). From the midrib a short full depth corridor runs into the blade, generally in the basal part of the leaf. The corridor usually is quite short but when it happens to be longer a central frass line is visible. Finally an oval excision of about 3 x 5 mm is cut out, in which the larva drops to the ground.
hostplants
Betulaceae, monophagous
Betula pubescens.
phenology
Larvae in July – August (Emmet, 1983c).
BENELUX
BE recorded (Wullaert, 2010a).
NE recorded (Kuchlein ao, 1988a; Microlepidoptera.nl, 2009).
LUX not recorded (Fauna Europaea, 2009).
distribution within Europe
From Fennoscandia and northern Russia to the Pyrenees, Alps, and Romania, and from Ireland to Central Russia (Fauna Europaea, 2009).
pupa
Described by Patočka & Turčáni (2005a).
synonyms
Heliozela betulae (Stainton, 1890).
notes
For a long time, no morphological characters were available to separate hammoniella from Heliozela resplendella. Several authors, including Kuchlein & de Vos (1999a), therefore have synonymized both taxa. Mutanen ao (2007a) have definitely established that two distinct species are involved.
references
Ahr (1966a), Bengtsson (2008a), Borkowski (2003a), Buhr (1935a, 1964a), Dauphin & Aniotsbehere (1997a), Emmet (1983c), Hering (1927b, 1957a), Kozlov, van Nieukerken, Zverev & Zvereva (2013a), Kuchlein ao (1988a), Kuchlein & Donner (1993), Kuchlein & de Vos (1999a), Mutanen, Itämies & Kaila (2007a), Patočka & Turčáni (2005a), De Prins & Steeman (2011a 2013a), Redfern & Shirley (2011a), Robbins (1991a), Schütze (1931a), Skala (1949a), Sønderup (1949a), Wullaert (2010a).