Coleophora serratella larva changes its case.

A Coleophora serratella  larva that I found on Baildon Bank two weeks ago has now constructed its second and final case.

On the left-hand side (of the top picture) there is an obvious indentation in the leaf where a mine was excavated and then cut out before being lined with silk to create the typical cigar-shaped case.

The abandoned, dorsally-arched, first case was left abandoned affixed to the margin of the original mine and can be seen on the lower picture which shows the upper side of the leaf.

Over the next couple of months I will be collecting more cases to study the parasitoids which attack them.



Coleophora vitisella

Records suggest that only once in fifty years is someone mad enough to hike up to the cowberry and scrabble about (on hands and knees) to find this distinctive micromoth larva. On Tuesday 23rd April 2013 I was that man, getting surprisingly sunburnt in what seemed like a howling gale on Barden Moor, VC64.

Coleophora glaucicolella parasitoid - Hyssopus olivaceus, Thomson, 1878

I have been rearing some Coleophora glaucicolella from the Compact Rush (Juncus conglomeratus) at Ben Rhydding Gravel Pits. The first imago to emerge is that of a parasitoid; the chalcid

Hyssopus olivaceus Thomson, 1878.

As described by Dick Askew (Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects, 1968), the scutellum is entirely reticulately sculptured and the gaster of this female is approximately 1.5 times as long as broad.

The notaulices converge and intercept the axillae only slightly outside their inner angles.

Stenopterapion (Cobosiotherium) scutellare (Kirby, 1811)

On the 1st February 2013 I was searching the Gorse (Ulex euripaeus) on Baildon Moor for moth larvae. I was particularly looking for the caterpillars of the Scotopteryx geometrids as a very rarely collected parasitoid (Aleiodes) uses July Belle (S. luridata) as a host. It is quite likely that Lead Belle (S. mucronata) is an alternative host and Baildon Moor is where the only known Yorkshire specimen of this moth was captured in 1897.


I noticed that one of the gorse stems was swollen and, suspecting this to be a gall, I cut the stem in two to reveal an insect larva. I took photographs of the gall and larva and posted these onto the British Galls Yahoogroup website which is an internet forum run by the British Plant Gall Society. Within an hour, a reply was posted suggesting that the galls were likely to be caused by the coleopterous species Stenopterapion scutellare (Kirby, 1811).

I have now sent the record to the BPGS and to the Plant Galls Recorder for the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union). It seems to be a first record for VC64.

There are still a few galls visible on the gorse bush and I hope to harvest these later in the year in order to see the adult beetle.

Stigmella anomalella on Dog-rose

I have a single Dog-rose (Rosa canina) in the garden which I only planted earlier this year.

I was pleasantly surprised last weekend when I found twenty-eight tenanted mines of Stigmella anomalella.

Pammene regiana

Last November I found several larvae feeding under the loose bark of an Italian Maple in my garden. I havo only recently realised that these are Pammene regiana after seeing a photograph in the newly published Micro-moths field guide.

Triangle Plume (Platyptilia gonodactyla) larva and pupae

Having located a large stand of Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara) earlier in the year, I went back this weekend lo look for the early stages of the Triangle Plume moth. The larvae feed within the seedhead of Coltsfoot at this time of year and I managed to find one larva and three pupae.

As I was hoping to find evidence of parasitism by the braconid Microgaster alebion I will have to go back and look for some more larvae, the parasitoid would not have allowed its host to reach the pupal stage.

Timothy Tortix larva

I was out at the Denso Marston Nature Reserve looking for caterpillars on the various grasses.

Although my target species were the leaf-mining members of the Elachista family I was still pleased to find this tortrix larva hiding in spun-together blades of grass on the banks of The River Aire.

I suspect that it is the polyphagous Aphelia paleana but will rear it through to check.

Pteromalus semotus

This Pteromalus semotus has emerged from the larval web of White Satin Moth (Leucoma salicis) found at Hull, VC61. It is actually a hyperparasitoid, the primary parasitoid of the moth being the braconid Cotesia melanoscela.

Two other chalcids emerged from the web, a little blue one (as yet unidentified) and a Eurytomidae (probably Eurytoma).

White Satin Moth stowaways

This little feller is an over-wintering caterpillar of the White Satin Moth (Leucoma salicis). I found a couple of these amongst a batch of braconid parasitoid pupal cases collected from the poplar trees in Queen's Gardens, Hull. I have never seen the adult of this species even though it seems to be expanding its range across the county.

I am grateful to Dean's Daily Diary for alerting me to the fact that Colt's-foot (Tussilago farfara)is beginning to flower.
This was one of several found at Timble Ings yesterday. I had a quick look for the feeding signs of Triangle Plume larvae but these are probably still in hibernation.

Dotted Border

My second moth of the year is a bit of a cheat, it being this Dotted Border (Agriopis marginaria) that has emerged from a caterpillar collected last year at Ben Rhydding Gravel Pits.

My first moth was (appropriately enough) an Early Moth (Theria primaria) attracted to the lighted window of Hollins Hall Hotel on 23rd January 2012.

Parasitic Hymenoptera

This Cryptine Ichneumon is Charitopes carri (Roman) and was one of several seen exploring the crevices of a Sycamore trunk during the last week of October.
It will have been looking to oviposit into the cocoons of lacewing larvae.
There are some excellent parasitoid photographs on Charlie Streets's Moths of Calderdale site.

Pnigalio mediterraneus

After reading an article in British Wildlife entitled "The Horse-chestnut Leaf-miner and its parasitoids", I decided to investigate what was happening on my own tree.
Preliminary results have led me to believe that I have a healthy population of Cameraria ohridella with assosciated populations of the chalcid parasitoids Sympiesis sericeicornis and Pnigalio mediterraneus.
The insect in the photograph is a female Pnigalio mediterraneus.

White-letter Hairstreak and Ectoedemia minimella

There were a few sunny spells this morning and, during one of them, I was lucky enough to be able to find this White-letter Hairstreak (Satyrium w-album) on a local elm.
I also received a letter from Harry Beaumont today:
A specimen from my excursion to Timble Ings, last Saturday, turns out to be Ectoedemia minimella rather than the Stigmella sp. that I had suspected.

Assembling Northern Eggars

On Friday 3rd June 2011 I discovered that a female Northern Eggar had emerged from a caterpillar found on Barden Moor last year.
Having read about "assembling" I took the moth up to Baildon Moor in the late afternoon sunshine and placed it carefully on a clump of bilberry.
Within a couple of minutes, a male arrived swiftly followed by another, and then another.
The two surplus males soon did the decent thing and allowed the first arrival to complete his courtship.

Another one bites the dust............

Everything seemed to be going well for this little caterpillar of the Pale Brindled Beauty (Phigalia pilosaria) found on an Ash near Grassington.
A cocoon has now appeared which belongs to one of the Microgastrinae group of parasitoids.
It is likely to be a Glyptapantales sp. or perhaps Protapantales with Cotesia a fainter possibility.
Hopefully time will tell.

Dotted Border pupates

A caterpillar that I found feeding on oak in Hawksworth Wood on the 14th May has now pupated.
The distinctive colouration of the pupa has now enabled me to identify the caterpillar as that of the Dotted Border (Agriopis marginaria).
Now the challenge is to try and keep it in the hope of the adult being the flightless female which I have never seen.

The Grinning Egg

I thought that I had found some moth eggs on the undersurface of an elm leaf this morning but then realised that I had been caught out like this before!

Remember the story of the Ova with smiley faces?

Ichneumon pupa ex Dun-bar larva

I have been rearing a caterpillar of the Dun-bar (Cosmia trapezina) found on Beech at Hawksworth wood on 14th May 2011.

Yesterday, I looked inside its container to find that the caterpillar's innards are now contained within the pupa of an ichneumon wasp. Mark Shaw has since identified this for me as Scirtetes robustus.

It will be fascinating to see what the resultant parasitoid imago looks like.

The Oxford Bee Company and Orange Tips

Very blustery weather has predominated over the last couple of days but the continuing bright sunshine is appreciated by most of us.

There is a profusion of Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) growing by the roadsides and many of these stems are now dotted with the bright orange eggs of the Orange Tip butterfly.

Red Mason Bees (Osmia rufa) are busy cementing up the cardboard tubes of my Oxford Bee Company nesting box.