Ectoedemia atrifrontella (Stainton, 1851)
Ectoedemia atrifrontella
Diagnostic description:Diagnosis. The white thorax together with the black head separate atrifrontella from other Zimmermannia species, the snow-white hair-pencil in the male is a good additional character separating it from longicaudella. The narrow capsule, constricted aedeagus, serrate carinae and short ventral arms of transtilla are diagnostic characters of the male genitalia. The female genitalia differ from longicaudella by shorter posterior apophyses and lower number of convolutions in ductus spermathecae, but cannot be separated from liebwerdella.
Morphology:Male. Forewing length 2.88-3.24 mm (3.05 ± 0.13, 12), wingspan 6.5-7.4 mm. Head: frontal tuft and collar dark brown to black. Antennae long, with 45-53 segments
(48.3 ± 2.7, 7). Thorax yellowish white, except brown caudal tips of mesoscutum and tegulae. Forewings dark brown, irrorate with varying amount of white, tornal spot usually white; cilia silvery white beyond ill-defined cilia-line. Hindwing with snow-white hair-pencil of approximately ¼ hindwing length, surrounded by white lamellar scales; humeral lobe prominent, costal margin distinctly emarginated beyond hair-pencil.
Female. Forewing length 3.2-3.84 mm (3.59 ± 0.23, 9); wingspan 7.2-8.5 mm. Antennal segments 37-49 (42.2 ± 3.2, 10).
Male genitalia. Capsule length 390-411 µm (404.2 ± 8.7, 7), slender, width 274-304 µm. Vinculum with posterior part of ventral plate less than one third of ventral plate. Tegumen slightly cuspidate. Gnathos with central element long and narrow, parallel-sided. Valva slender, length 287-321 µm (297.6 ± 12.6, 7), approximately triangular, without any lobe along inner margin, tip rounded; transtilla with ventral arm extremely short. Aedeagus 450-501 µm (471.4 ± 19.2, 7), constricted at level of opening for ductus ejaculatorius; ventral carinae long, approximately one third of total length aedeagus, with distinct serrate outer margins; lateral and dorsal carinae connected by prominent rim, stout and pointed, the dorsal longer. Vesica with distally a sclerotised plate with indistinct folds or ridges in addition to small cornuti.
Female genitalia. T8 with many long hairs, more than 50, a row of 10-20 thicker and very long setae along anterior margin of T8, scales absent; anterior margin of T8 slightly indented. Anal papillae with 8-13 setae. Posterior apophyses hardly reaching beyond anterior apophyses. Vestibulum with pair of indistinct sclerotisations. Corpus bursae 1080-1270 µm, covered with pectinations, partly in concentric bands arounh signa; signa elongate, similar, length 473-572 µm (510 ± 41, 14), 4.4-6.7 X as long as wide. Ductus spermathecae with 2½-3 convolutions, becoming wider distally.
Larva. Yellow, very elongate. Head-capsule brown. Ventral plates absent.Associations:Host plants: Quercus robur L., Q. pubescens Willd. and probably other Quercus species. Adults have been collected in forests with only other species of Quercus:
in Spain the species was collected in cork-oak woods with some Quercus faginea Lam., of which the latter is the most likely foodplant here.
Mine. Contorted gallery in smooth bark of branches and thin trunks. The larva feeds mainly in the direction of the main axis.Distribution:Widely distributed in Europe from southern Finland to Spain. In northern Europe not found in Ireland.
In Western Europe not recorded from Belgium. It is the only Zimmermannia species known from Great Britain. In central and southern Europe this species is often less common than longicaudella. Occurrence in Anatolia (one uncertain female) has to be confirmed.
Further located in Norway: Van Nieukerken and Johansson 1990; Latvia: Savenkov et al. 1996; Poland: Mazurkiewicz and Pałka 2004; Czech Republic: Laštůvka and Laštůvka 1991; Slovakia: Laštůvka and Laštůvka 1991; Portugal: Van Nieukerken et al. 2004a; Italy, Sicily: Laštůvka and Laštůvka 2005; Ukraine (Crimea): Budashkin 1988; Puplesis 1994. The record for Rumania (Diószeghy 1935) was earlier overlooked, it is here confirmed by material. We record it new for Russia and we also provide the first detailed records for Croatia and Greece. Records from Lithuania (Ivinskis 1993; Ivinskis 2004; Ivinskis et al. 1985) are dubious, because they seem to relate to mines only, which could also belong to one of the next two species.Life cycle:Life history. Larvae with a one or two year life cycle. Full grown larvae collected late May and June pupate soon and emerge within a few weeks. Adults are frequently caught at light and fly from June (earliest date 21) to September (latest 24).
Rearing is difficult, and actually very few specimens have been reared.This taxonomic description is based on Van Nieukerken (1985) and Van Nieukerken et al (2010)
EOL Text
Statistics of barcoding coverage: Ectoedemia atrifrontella:
Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 0
Specimens with Barcodes: 5
Species With Barcodes: 1
Ectoedemia atrifrontella:
Ectoedemia atrifrontella is a moth of the Nepticulidae family. It is found in most of Europe except Iceland, Ireland, Belgium and most of the Balkan Peninsula. It is also present in the Near East.
Ectoedemia atrifrontella mine
The wingspan is 7–9 mm. Adults are on wing from June to September.
The larvae feed on various Quercus species. Unlike most other Nepticulidae species, the larvae mine the bark of their host, rather than the leaves. They prefer younger branches. The mine consists of a contorted gallery in smooth bark of branches and thin trunks. The larva feeds mainly in the direction of the main axis.
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