Micrurapteryx caraganella

Micrurapteryx caraganella (Hering, 1957)

(Figs 5A, 10 A–B)

Material examined. Russia: AO, Skovorodino, 53.98N, 123.93E, 431 m alt., Caragana arborescens, 26. VI.2016, 4 pupae, 2 adults (reared from leaf mines), 1 male / genitalia slide [38-male], 1 female / [39-female] (Fig. 5A), deposited in SIF.

Leaf mine. Flat whitish green blotch, slightly branched, on the upper side of the leaflet above the midrib, often occupies entire leaflet (Fig. 10A); starts as a relatively long narrow epidermal tunnel on the lower surface of the leaflet (Fig. 10B). Hardly any frass is accumulated in the blotch part of the mine as the larva regularly ejects frass pellets from the mine protruding rear part of the body through a small slit on the underside of leaflet. When most of parenchyma is eaten out, the larva vacates the mine and creates a new one on the same or a neighboring leaf. Vacated mine soon turns brownish, the epidermis covering mine cracks and gets loose. Pupation on the lower surface of a leaflet (occasionally on the upper side), in a transparent glossy cocoon (Fig. 10B).

Trophic specialization. Oligophagous on Fabaceae: Caragana arborescens, C. frutex, C. boisii, Medicago sativa (Kirichenko et al. 2016).

Distribution. Russia: RFE—AO (Kirichenko et al. 2017b), southern Siberia (Kirichenko et al. 2016); European part (Kozlov et al. 2017).

Remarks: In early literature, the species was confused with M. gradatella (Herrich-Schäffer), which feeds on other Fabaceae: Lathyrus and Vicia and has distinctive characters in male genitalia (see literature revision and the species diagnosis in Kirichenko et al. (2016)). In 2016, numerous mines of M. caraganella were documented on C. arborescens in Scovorodino, AO (Kirichenko et al. 2017b).