Hantsmoths

One of a complex of species in the Phyllocnistis saligna clade, per Voith et al, 2023 (Taxonomy of the complex around Phyllocnistis saligna (Zeller, 1839) (Lepidoptera, Gracillariidae) in North and Central Europe, with the description of a new species. Norwegian Journal of Entomology 70, 10–28.) First found in the UK at Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire in 2018. Elsewhere it is known from northern Europe, south to Italy and eastwards to Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The larva mines the leaf in a zig-zagging gallery mine on the lower surface of a leaf of Salix spp. Bark mines are short, passing from one leaf to another via the petiole. The final gallery usually ends at a leaf margin where the larva pupates under a silk membrane in a folded edge. The imago can be separated from other Phyllocnistis only by dissection of the genitalia (females only, males are indistinguishable). See the leafmines.co.uk newsletter that describes the mines of the four species in the complex.