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Phyllonorycter esperella
Dark Hornbeam Midget
Wingspan 7 to 9 mm.
Leafmine occurs on Hornbeam http://www.leafmines.co.uk/html/Lepidoptera/P.esperella.htm
Areas where Hornbeam is present.
The adults emerge, like many other Phyllonorycters, in May and again in August as a second brood.
The larvae feed on Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) and the species is one of the few creating a mine on the upperside of the leaf. The mine is a blotch with a papery upper surface, and can cause the leaf to fold over strongly.
A local species, mainly found in the south and south-east of England northwards to the midlands. In the Butterfly Conservation's Microlepidoptera Report 2011 this species was classified as local.
Increasingly well recorded in Leicestershire and Rutland in recent years, particularly from the leafmines on Hornbeam.
Leicestershire & Rutland Map
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MAP KEY:
Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015
UK Map
Species profile
- Common names
- Dark Hornbeam Midget
- Species group:
- Moths
- Kingdom:
- Animalia
- Order:
- Lepidoptera
- Family:
- Gracillariidae
- Records on NatureSpot:
- 56
- First record:
- 05/10/2017 (Calow, Graham)
- Last record:
- 17/11/2023 (Graves, Hazel)
Total records by month
% of records within its species group
10km squares with records
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