Food Plant: Betula pendula (Silver Birch), B.verrucosa (White Birch)

Egg: at the edge of a leaf

Mine: May - June

Notes: This is the early season miner on this plant; mines formed later in the season are due to Scolioneura betuleti. Blotch mines are formed at the leaf edge. There may be more than one mine in a leaf. The larva is pale green, with a brown head. A female was found in May 1942 in Ireland (Liston and O'Connor, 2005). Leppänen, Altenhofer, Liston & Nyman (2012) showed, by barcoding, that S.vicina was identical genetically to Scolioneura betuleti. UKSI have now grouped S.vicina under the senior name of S.betuleti. It is now synonomised with Scolioneura vicina (Liston et al 2022)

Data: 22.vi.2006, ex mine 20.vi.2006, Etzen, Austria, Ewald Altenhofer

Image:© Rob Edmunds

References:
Leppänen S, Altenhofer E, Liston A & Nyman T(2012)- Phylogenetics and evolution of host-plant use in leaf-mining sawflies (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae: Heterarthrinae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 64: 331-341.
Liston A, Mutanen M, Heidemaa M, S Blank SM, Kiljunen N, Taeger A, Viitasaar M, Vikberg M, Wutke S, Prous M (2022) - Taxonomy and nomenclature of some Fennoscandian Sawflies, with descriptions of two new species (Hymenoptera, Symphyta), Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 69(2): 151-218