Bucculatrix maritima observation on the foodplant

On 5th June Matthew Deans and I wandered down to the saltmarsh patch of the Hollesley Marshes RSPB reserve. My intent was to find Gynnidomorpha vectisana there which I had found last year on the other side of the creek. The objective failed perhaps because of the late season. Only Elachista argentella in large numbers were found in the micro class. However in an attempt to record the object of the exercise we took away some cocoons found in large numbers on Sea Arrow Grass (Triglochin maritima), the foodplant of G vectisana. These have produced Bucculatrix maritima. Literature generally states the foodplant of this species as Sea Aster, I have to date only found Sea Arrow Grass also stated on www.lepiforum.de. Down on our saltmarsh this was undoubtedly the foodplant as they were in a bed of the plant with no Sea Aster.

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One Response to Bucculatrix maritima observation on the foodplant

  1. Tony Prichard says:

    An interesting observation. I would be hesistant to make a strong association with a foodplant based on the presence of pupae only – larvae are prone to wander when looking for pupation sites and may completely leave the larval foodplant. Were any larval leaf-mines noted on the Sea Arrow Grass? I ran the lepiforum.de page through the Google translator and it would appear that Sea Arrow Grass is noted only as a pupation site and not foodplant. I would expect to see some direct observation of the larvae with the foodplant before acknowledging it as a foodplant. It could be that it is not on either Sea Arrow Grass or Sea Aster but some other foodplant.

    Tony

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