008 Bucculatrix cidarella

14.008 Bucculatrix cidarella (Alder Bent-wing)

ws: 8-9mm; May-Jun, (Aug); leaf mine alder (Alnus glutinosa); fairly common wherever alders are present, also found on bog-myrtle (Myrica gale) in Anglesey and Arne NR, Dorset.

Bucculatrix cidarella §1 male

ID: Keyed in MBGBI2 as: Forewing not unicolorous; ground colour dark fuscous. This species should show four whitish spots on a dark fuscous ground - median and postmedian costal, antemedian and tornal dorsal. Traces of these spots can be seen in §1 but it is so worn that this specimen was not identified without examination of the genitalia. Male genitalia are shown for 10 of the 13 British Bucculatrix species at Moth Dissection. Amongst these 10, B.cidarella is the only species with a 2-pronged aedeagus. (The 3 species not shown are: B.humiliella which is only found in the Scottish Highlands; B.chrysanthemella and B.ulmifoliae both of which are recent additions to the British list).

Dissection

Male genitalia

Page published 01/04/2014 (§1)