Bucculatrix bechsteinella

Bucculatrix bechsteinella
File:Bucculatrix bechsteinella.JPG
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Bucculatricidae
Genus:	Bucculatrix
Species:	B. bechsteinella
Binomial name
Bucculatrix bechsteinella (Bechstein & Scharfenberg, 1805)
Synonyms
Tinea bechsteinella Bechstein & Scharfenberg, 1805 Lyonetia crataegi Zeller, 1839 Bucculatrix crataegi Elachista crataegifoliella Duponchel, 1843

Bucculatrix bechsteinella is a moth of the Bucculatricidae family. It is found in most of Europe, except Greece and Bulgaria.

The wingspan is 7–9 mm. Adults are on wing from mid-May to mid-August.

The larvae feed on Amelanchier, Chaenomeles, Cotoneaster, Crataegus douglasii, Crataegus laevigata, Crataegus monogyna, Cydonia oblonga, Malus domestica, Mespilus germanica, Prunus insititia, Prunus spinosa, Pyracantha coccinea, Pyrus communis, Sorbus aria, Sorbus aucuparia and Sorbus torminalis. They mine the leaves of their host plant. The mine has the form of a small, hook-like corridor, mostly in a vein axle. The frass is deposited in a thick central line. The larvae soon leave their mine and resumes feeding living freely on the leaf. Larvae can be found from June to August. They are greenish yellow with a darker head. Pupation takes place in a white, ribbed cocoon on detritus.

Gallery

• (0275) Bucculatrix bechsteinella (15180843905).jpg

  imago

• Bucculatrix bechsteinella mining larva.JPG

  Mining larva

• Bucculatrix bechsteinella externally feeding larva.JPG

  Externally feeding larva

• Bucculatrix bechsteinella hawthorn leaf, mined and with a cocoonet under which the larva moults.JPG

  Hawthorn leaf, mined and with a cocoonet under which the larva moults

• Bucculatrix bechsteinella gnawed hawthorn leaf.JPG

  Gnawed hawthorn leaf

• Bucculatrix bechsteinella cocoon.JPG

  Cocoon