''Macrosaccus robiniella'' is a

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

of the family

Gracillariidae Gracillariidae is an important family of insects in the order Lepidoptera and the principal family of leaf miners that includes several economic, horticultural or recently invasive pest species such as the horse-chestnut leaf miner, ''Cameraria ...

Distribution

It is native to and widely distributed in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, but is an introduced species in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, where it was first reported near

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, in 1983. Later, it was also reported in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, northern

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

(1988),

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

(1989), and

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

(1992). It spread gradually through

, reaching

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

in the mid 1990s.

Adult description

The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...

is 5.5 to 6.5 mm. There are two to three generations per year.

Life history

The larvae feed on ''

Robinia pseudoacacia ''Robinia pseudoacacia'', commonly known as black locust, is a medium-sized hardwood deciduous tree, belonging to the tribe Robinieae of the legume family Fabaceae. It is native to a few small areas of the United States, but it has been widely pl ...

'', '' Robinia viscosa'' and ''

Robinia hispida ''Robinia hispida'', known as the bristly locust, rose-acacia, or moss locust, is a shrub in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. It is native to the southeastern United States, and it is present in other areas, including other reg ...

''. They mine the leaves of their host plant. The mine begins as an elongate serpentine track which enlarges to an elongate-oval, whitish blotch located on one side of the midrib and usually on the underside of the leaflet. Eventually the mine becomes slightly tentiform due to the silk laid down by the later instar larvae. There are five larval instars. The earliest instars are highly modified sapfeeders with strongly depressed bodies and reduced chaetotaxy with a maximum length 3.7 mm. Later instars are tissue feeders, with cylindrical bodies and a maximum length of 4.7 mm. The body colour is pale green to white.

Natural enemies

Fifty seven

parasitoid In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host (biology), host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionarily stable str ...

species (including two unidentified) of

Hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are parasitic. Females typi ...

are recorded for ''M. robiniella'', the great majority of which belongs to the family

Eulophidae The Eulophidae is a large family of hymenopteran insects, with over 4,300 described species in some 300 genera. The family includes the genus '' Elasmus'', which used to be treated as a separate family, "Elasmidae", and is now treated as a subfa ...

Gallery

Image:Macrosaccus robiniella larva.jpg, Larva Image:Phyllonorycter.robiniella.6876.jpg, Larva on a leaf Image:Macrosaccus robiniella damage.jpg, Close-up of damage Image:Phyllonorycter.robiniella.6877.jpg, Leaf showing damage by ''Macrosaccus robiniella'' Image:Macrosaccus robiniella coccoon.jpg, Cocoon

References

External links

Greencard

Fauna Europaea
Lithocolletinae Moths of Europe {{Lithocolletinae-stub Moths of North America Lepidoptera of Canada Lepidoptera of the United States Moths described in 1859 Taxa named by James Brackenridge Clemens Leaf miners