Ctenosciara hyalipennis [Diptera: Sciaridae] in Leaf and stem mines of British flies and other insects

The leaf and stem mines of British flies and other insects

(Coleoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera and Lepidoptera)

by Brian Pitkin, Willem Ellis, Colin Plant and Rob Edmunds

Ctenosciara hyalipennis (Meigen, 1804)
[Diptera: Sciaridae]

Sciara hyalipennis Meigen, 1804. Klass. Beschr. 1: 99
Sciara annulata Meigen, 1818. Syst. Beschr. 1: 284
Sciara autumnalis Winnertz, 1867. Monogr. Sciarinen : 144
Lycoria absoloni Bezzi, 1911. Archs Zool. exp. gen. (8) 5: 54, as a subsp. of Lycoria annulata (Meigen).
Ctenosciara hyalipennis (Meigen, 1804).

Leaf mine: Small, full-depth mine, sometimes strongly branched and corridor-like, more blotchy at other occasions. As a rule a number of mines in a leaf. A larva makes several mines. Pupation external. (Bladmineerders van Europa)

Larva: The larvae of flies are leg-less maggots without a head capsule (see examples). They never have thoracic or abdominal legs. They do not have chewing mouthparts, although they do have a characteristic cephalo-pharyngeal skeleton (see examples), usually visible internally through the body wall.

Puparium: The puparia of flies are formed within the hardened last larval skin or puparium and as a result sheaths enclosing head appendages, wings and legs are not visible externally (see examples).

Comments: Ctenosciara develops in decaying material and is very unlikely to be a leaf-miner (Peter Chandler, pers. comm.)

Hosts in Great Britain and Ireland:

Ranunculaceae

Ranunculus Robbins, 1991: 27

Hosts elsewhere:

Ranunculaceae

Ranunculus Hering, 1957

Ranunculus Bladmineerders van Europa

Time of year - mines: Currently unknown.

Time of year - adults: Currently unknown.

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Widespread in Britain including Warwickshire (Robbins, 1991: 27), Berkshire, Cheshire, Cumberland, East Kent, East Norfolk, Elgin, Hertfordshire, Leicestershire, Merionethshire, North Hampshire, North-east Yorkshire, Nottingham, Shropshire, South Northumberland, South-west Yorkshire, Stafford, West Cornwall, West Norfolk and West Suffolk (NBN Atlas).

Also recorded in the Republic of Ireland (Heller, 2004 in Fauna Europaea).

Distribution elsewhere: Widespread in continental Europe including Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Canary Is., Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Italian mainland, Kaliningrad Region, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and The Netherlands (Heller, 2004 in Fauna Europaea).

NBN Atlas links to known host species:

Host species unknown

British and Irish Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere: Currently unknown.

External links: Search the internet:

Biodiversity Heritage Library
Bladmineerders van Europa
British leafminers
Encyclopedia of Life
Fauna Europaea
NBN Atlas
NHM UK Checklist Find using Google
Find using Google Scholar
Find images using Google

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Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Widespread but very rare. Recently recorded only from Berkshire, Hampshire (White, 1988: 37), Haddington (Pressmenan), Midlothian (Ratho), Renfrew (Kilbarchan) (Bland, 1993b), Warwickshire (Whichford Wood) (Robbins, 1991: 66), Cumberland, Derbyshire, East Cornwall, Mid-west Yorkshire, North Hampshire, South Devon and South Hampshire (NBN Atlas).

Old records from Dumfriesshire, Speyside, Hampshire (White, 1988: 37), Dunbartonshire (Bonhill) (Malloch, 1909), Midlothian (Polton) (Carter, 1911)..

Distribution elsewhere: Throughout Europe except in the south (White, 1988: 37) including The Netherlands (Bladmineerders van Europa), Belgium (Leclercq and de Bruyn, 1991), Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Hungary, Italian mainland, Lithuania, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Russia - Central and East, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine. Also recorded in the East Palaearctic Region (Korneyev, in Fauna Europaea).