Maine Coastal Botanic Garden

Carder Bee on Salvia.

American Goldfinch

Drone Fly, on interpretation board.

Cricket (?) on path

Myrtle Warbler, in woods

Downy Woodpecker, on Birch

Downy Woodpecker on Birch

Great Northern Diver, in winter plumage, on Back River, Boothbay.

Dark-eyed Junco:

Witch Hazel:

Sassafras:

Phyllonorycter and Caloptilia on Field Maple

At the far end of the Access Trail woodland shaw, where we put the extra brick footings down the other year, there was a small Field Maple with a few folded leaf tip lobes that looked like Caloptilia mine follow-on folds.

This turned out to be Phyllonorycter acerifoliella, (Zeller, 1839), the Maple Midget, a bi-voltine leaf miner. The mines can be found in small numbers in May and, more frequently, in September and October. These mines are presumably partly the current generation of mines, and so some should really contain larvae or pupae that are about to over-winter.

The pupa should be blackish brown in a tight, thin-walled cocoon that is attached to the floor of the mine; all frass is accumulated in the opposite corner of the mine.

First seen from the upperside, then the underside:

and here is another example:

This is another, more recent mine, which I cannot identify, as it doesn't look at all like typical Phyllonorycter acerifoliella. It could possibly be Phyllonorycter joanissii from Norway Maple, which this mine closely resembles, but this is generally judged very unlikely. In the past Andy Banthorpe has identified this type of mine away from the edge as atypical Phyllonorycter acerifoliella.

Again, first from the upperside, then the underside:

a closer view:

Hopefully these Phyllonorycter acerifoliella folded leaf lobe mines will not be confused again with Caloptilia leaf lobe folds, as I first did!!

Now this looks more like a Caloptilia:

Viewed first from the upperside, then the underside:

On Field Maple, Acer campestre, in the UK this would seem to be most likely to be Caloptilia semifascia  (Haworth, 1828), the "Maple Slender". This is found on the Field Maple in the UK

The very early mine is a gallery leading soon to a small triangular or squarish blotch. Later the larvae move out to form up to three successive tubes or cones by folding the tips of leaves downwards, in which they live. On this plant there were usually only one or two folded leaf lobes per leaf. The larvae are said to be greenish with a lighter head.

The mines are supposed to occur in June - July and the ones shown here do generally look quite fairly old. Pupation is said to be in a flat, parchment-like, shining, yellowish white cocoon on either side of the leaf, but generally near the margin. I imagine that pupae are quite difficult to find in July(ish), and I haven't found any yet. The moth then flies until October, and after hibernating, again in May, before egg-laying.

However, another minor possibility on Field Maple is Caloptilia rufipennella (Hubner, 1796), which is found almost entirely on Sycamore and only rarely on Field Maple in the UK, although apparently on a wider range of Acers, including again Field Maple, on the continent. This species was only first identified on any Acer species in the UK in 1970, and is still a bit local in its distribution although spreading well. Because of its rarity on other hosts, at least according to current records, we can fairly discount it as a likely record in this case. It also has to be said that the information about host preference on different web-sites is quite contradictory in my view.

The initial feeding blotch mines are very difficult to find, and distinguish from other feeding marks, again in my limited experience, and I haven't identified one at all yet. 

A few mines on hawthorn and sallow

Phyllonorycter corylifoliella (Hubner, 1796) on Hawthorn, on a lush plant, heading down towards the Whetsted gravel pits, a fairly classic view of what is said to be a quite common leafminer, from what I can see on the internet. The second image is just a closer crop of the first.

and a closer view:

Here is another mine, again the second image is just a closer view of the first. An older version of the same leaf miner species, or more likely to be Ectodoemia atricollis, with maybe a narrow channel of a mine along the margin of the leaf to start with.

This next one might be a developing Ectoedemia mine, a full depth yellowish mine, with the larva still in it I think! There might be a bit of a thin mine along the edge. Again the second image is just a tighter crop. Ectoedemia atricollis, (Stainton, 1857), the pinch-barred pigmy, which does mine leaves from the end of August through to October.

and this one might be a better developed mine of the same species,

Here is a photo of a galled willow leaf.

Beech in Dene Park

The first Beech, Fagus sylvatica, trees I looked at had some old Phyllonorycter messaniella empty and browned mines, but further round on the north side, there were a couple of perhaps more recent and I think probable Phyllonorycter maestingella mines. And as usual there were some I couldn't make my mind up about.

I think this is pulled quite tight and is probably maestingella, lower side then upper side:

This (I think) is a second example:

Here are some old mines of what is probably Phyllonorycter messaniella.

Here is a new mine, with the caterpillar visible within it, next to a very old mine. There is no sign of any crease in the new mine.

However here is an old mine that still apparently shows sign of a central crease:

There were also some quite chunky brownish Stigmella mines, quite possibly Stigmella hemargyrella, as the egg seems to be away from the midrib. Notice the narrow start and first section of the mine, to the left, which apparently increases in size very abruptly.

Here is another example:

And a third, again starting at the leaf margin and finishing near the midrib, this time with a clear exit hole:

Nothing else, except the common leafhopper marks and the Hartigiola annulipes galls I think.

Late in Dene Park

A few mines about in the gloaming, getting a bit difficult to see!

On the Beech there were a few fairly long thin mines, all apparently deserted (!) of the Beech Midget, Phyllonorycter maestingella (Muller, 1764). I do wonder why this year I find so few occupied mines of this species, and I do seem to find more mines of P. messaniella on Beech, with its wider host range.

Access Trail

Wandered along the shaw on the normal Bourne walk as the light faded this evening, I looked at one of the small Field Maples at the far end and found a few few folded down leaf lobe tips. I wasn't sure whether these folds indicated a Caloptilia as I had first thought, or possibly Phyllonorycter acerifoliella (Zeller, 1839), the Maple Midget. In the end I think at least one leaf tip roll turned out to be the latter, although the revealed mine proved to be empty.

It is regarded as common with the mines occurring in July (presumably this one, hence emptied, with an exit hole) and October.

Eight Mallards overflew in a group. Not much else around, as it was getting very dark.

Fox Covert

Back to Dene Park, and diverting off to Fox Covert and the field beside it.

At the top of the field I found a few small folds at the tip of the lobes of Sycamore leaves, which I thought might be indicative of a Caloptilia species. This could be the Small Red Slender, Caloptilia rufipennella, found in the UK since the 1970s. The moth over-winters, perhaps in an evergreen such as Yew and reappears about spring. The mines are formed in sycamore leaves around, first as a small mine tucked into a vein axil, and you then get usually 3 "leaf tip folds - cones?" of increasing size in which the larvae continue to feed.