Food
Plant: Beta vulgaris (leaf
beet)
Elsewhere:
Atriplex glauca, Chenopodium album (fat-hen), C.
ficifolium (Figleaf Goosefoot), Patellifolia procumbens, Spinacia
oleracea (Spinach)
Egg: laid in clusters under the leaf
Mine: May-June; July(?) (life history is undescribed, but as second generation adults emerged in mid-June it may be assumed that mines will be found in July and possibly August)
Notes: Forms large blotch mines on, usually, the upper leaf surface, although lower surface mines may also be formed. The mines have a greenish tinge at the edges on Beta vulgaris. The granular frass is scattered in the mine. There may be several larva in a mine and they can change leaves in feeding. The larvae have a partial black strip on their dorsal surface. Pupariation may be inside or external to the leaf, when reared in captivity. Adults emerged from 15.vi.2020. An uncomon leafminer which tends to be found in coastal sites in the UK.
Data: 31.v.2020, Downham Market, Norfolk, VC28
Image:© Rob Edmunds
References:
Ackland M, Bentley H & Brighton P, (2018) - Dipterists Forum,
unpublished notes.
Edmunds, R (2022), The early stages of Pegomyza cunicularia (Rondani)(Diptera,
Anthomyiidae) -Dipterists Digest 29, 35-38
Hering M, (1927), Die Minenfauna der Canarischen Inseln. – Zoologische
Jahrbücher, Abteilung für Systematik, Ökologie und Geographie
der Tiere. 53: 405-486
Mehklif AF, (1999), Records of some leafminers of Anthomyiidae (Diptera)
and their hostplants in Iraq, Bull. Iraq nat. Hist. Mus, 1(9), 117-121
Michelsen
V, (1980), A revision of the beet leaf-miner complex, Pegomya hyoscyami
s.lat. (Diptera: Anthomyiidae)– Entomologica
Scandinavica 11: 297-309.
Michelsen
V & Baez M (1985) The Anthomyiidae (Diptera)
of the Canary Islands - Entomologica Scandinavica 16: 277-304
Plant Pests of the Middle East, http://www.agri.huji.ac.il/mepests/pest/Pegomyia_cunicularia/
accessed 31.xii.2020
Steyskal
GC, (1970), The Anatomy and Taxonomy of the Beet Leaf Miner of Egypt
and Cyprus, Pegomya mixta (Diptera: Anthomyiidae) – Ann.
Ent. Soc. Am. 63(1): 300-307
Suwa M, (2013), Anthomyiid flies from Sakhalin (Diptera: Anthomyiidae),
Insecta Matsumurana, New Series 69, 133-194
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sponsored by Colin Plant Associates (UK) LLP/Consultant Entomologists
