''Stigmella hybnerella'' also known as the greenish thorn pigmy is a

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of ...

of the family Nepticulidae. It is found in all of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

, in

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in t ...

, the Near East, and the eastern part of the

Palearctic realm The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Si ...

. The larvae mine the leaves of trees and shrubs such as hawthorns and

rowan The rowans ( or ) or mountain-ashes are shrubs or trees in the genus ''Sorbus'' of the rose family, Rosaceae. They are native throughout the cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the highest species diversity in the Himalaya ...

Description

Males of the species have a black head and golden-green coloured forewing with a white fascia distad to which the wing has purple hues . Females have black heads too, but sometimes orange. The

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

is . Adults are on wing from April to May and again from July to August. There are two generations per year.

Ecology

The larvae feed on snowy mespilus (''

Amelanchier ovalis ''Amelanchier ovalis'', commonly known as snowy mespilus (a name which is also attached to the related '' A. lamarckii'') or serviceberry, is a deciduous shrub in the family Rosaceae. Its pome fruits are edible and can be eaten raw or cooked. The ...

''), '' Cotoneaster''s, Midland hawthorn (''

Crataegus laevigata ''Crataegus laevigata'', known as the Midland hawthorn, English hawthorn, woodland hawthorn, or mayflower, is a species of hawthorn native to western and central Europe, from Great Britain (where it is typically found in ancient woodland and old ...

''), common hawthorn (''

Crataegus monogyna ''Crataegus monogyna'', known as common hawthorn, one-seed hawthorn, or single-seeded hawthorn, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae. It is native to Europe, northwestern Africa, and West Asia, but has been introduced in ...

''), small-flowered black hawthorn (''

Crataegus pentagyna ''Crataegus pentagyna'', also called small-flowered black hawthorn, is a species of hawthorn native to southeastern Europe. Two subspecies are recognized, ''C. p.'' subsp. ''pentagyna'' and ''C. p.'' subsp. ''pseudomelanocarpa''. The fruit are usu ...

''), common whitebeam (''

Sorbus aria ''Sorbus aria'' (syn. ''Aria nivea''), the whitebeam or common whitebeam, is a deciduous tree, the type species of the subgenus ''Sorbus'' subg. ''Aria'' of the genus ''Sorbus''. It is native to most of Europe as well as North Africa (Algeria, Mo ...

'') and wild service tree (''

Sorbus torminalis ''Sorbus torminalis'', with common names wild service tree, chequers, and checker tree, is a species of tree in the mountain ash or rowan genus (''Sorbus'') of the rose family (Rosaceae), that is native to Europe, parts of northern Africa and we ...

''). They mine the leaves of their host plant.

Etymology Etymology () The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the form of words ...

''Stigmella hybnerella'' was described by the German

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

Jacob Hübner Jacob Hübner (20 June 1761 – 13 September 1826, in Augsburg) was a German entomologist. He was the author of ''Sammlung Europäischer Schmetterlinge'' (1796–1805), a founding work of entomology. Scientific career Hübner was the author of '' ...

in 1796 from a

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the ...

found in Europe. The genus ''Stigmella'' – ″stigma″, refers to the conspicuous (or occasionally metallic) small dot or a brand

fascia A fascia (; plural fasciae or fascias; adjective fascial; from Latin: "band") is a band or sheet of connective tissue, primarily collagen, beneath the skin that attaches to, stabilizes, encloses, and separates muscles and other internal organ ...

on the forewing of many of the ''Stigmella'' species, or possibly the small size of the moths. The

species name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bo ...

''hybnerella'' refers to Jacob Hübner, who seems to have named the moth after himself; although Maitland Emmet suggests it was probably proposed by another entomologist.

References

External links

Swedish moths''Stigmella hybnerella'' images
at

Consortium for the Barcode of Life The Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) was an international initiative dedicated to supporting the development of DNA barcoding as a global standard for species identification. CBOL's Secretariat Office is hosted by the National Museum of ...

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1759131 Nepticulidae Leaf miners Moths described in 1796 Moths of Africa Moths of Asia Moths of Europe Taxa named by Jacob Hübner