Last modified: Feb. 27, 2021, 4:04 p.m.
A local and very rare species in Belgium. Records from mines alone are unreliable because mines of Rosaceae feeding Phyllonorycter species closely resemble each other. It is necessary to rear the caterpillars to the adult stage and then to examine the genitalia.
Native
Head brown with some scattered white hairs, forewing ground colour brown, pattern consisting of a white basal line, four costal and three dorsal white striae.
A long tentiform mine on the underside of the leaf, with one longitudinal fold. The frass is concentrated in one corner of the mine.
See also gracillariidae.net and bladmineerders.be.
White cocoon within the mine.
The last, full-grown instar spins a white cocoon inside the mine in which it pupates. Just before emergence the pupa wrickles downwards to protrude the wall of the mine. The exuvium sticks to the mine after emergence of the imago.
The adults rest during the day and come to light.
Two generations a year: May and August.
The caterpillar has been recorded from: Cydonia, Malus, Sorbus, and others, but confusion with other Phyllonorycter species may have led to wrong identifications.
Orchards and gardens where Cydonia oblonga is planted.
