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Species Fenusella nana - Early Birch Leaf Edgeminer

Representative Images

Birch mining sawfly larva - Fenusella nana Edgeminers in my birch tree - Fenusella nana Sawfly - Fenusella nana Aneugmenus ? - Fenusella nana Common sawfly - Fenusella nana Amber-Marked Birch Leaf Miner - leaf and larva - Fenusella nana Fenusella nana Fenusella nana

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)
No Taxon ("Symphyta" - Sawflies, Horntails, and Wood Wasps)
Family Tenthredinidae (Common Sawflies)
Subfamily Heterarthrinae
Tribe Fenusini
Genus Fenusella
Species nana (Early Birch Leaf Edgeminer)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Scolioneura laeta Enslin, Messa nana (Klug 1816)

Explanation of Names

Fenusella nana (Klug 1818)
Greek nanos (νανος) 'dwarf'

Size

avg. BL: ♀ 4.5 mm, ♂ (unknown in NA) 4-4.5 mm(1)

Range

native to, and widespread across n. Eurasia, adventive in NA (ne. US)(1)(2)(3), introduced from Europe

Season

The adult lays eggs in the spring

Food

hosts: birches(1), esp. white birch

Life Cycle

one generation per year; pupates in the soil and remains there until the next year

Remarks

The mine made by the larva starts at the end of a vein at a leaf's edge and it is plugged by frass [mine(4)]
earliest NA record: ME 1966(1)

Internet References

Species pages: Ellis (2007) (Europe)(5) | Edmunds (2007) (UK)(4) | Pitkin et al. (2007-) (UK)(6)