Zimmermannia longicaudella

Diagnostic description: 

Diagnosis: the brown thorax and yellowish brown hair-pencil separate this species from atrifrontella, the hair-pencil and the absence of a costal spot from liebwerdella. From both species it is distinguished by the unconstricted aedeagus, the shorter carinae, the wider capsule and longer ventral arms of transtilla in male, and by the long posterior apophyses and number of convolutions in spermathecal duct in female. See also hispanica and monemvasiae.

Morphology: 

Description. Male. Forewing length 2.68—3.64 mm (3.27 ± 0.20, 28), wingspan 7.0 — 8.0 mm. Head: frontal
tuft and collar dark brown to black. Antennae long, with 41 — 50 segments (45.2 ± 2.5, 11). Thorax dark brown,
often with white caudal tips of mesoscutum and tegulae. Forewings dark brown, irrorate with varying amount
of white, tornai spot usually white; cilia silvery white beyond ill-defined cilia-line. Hindwing with yellowish
brown hairpencil of approximately Vi hindwing length, surrounded by white lamellar scales; humeral lobe
prominent, costal margin distinctly emarginated beyond hair-pencil Female. Forewing length 3.32 — 3.92 mm
(3.67 ± 0.19, 10), wingspan 7.2—8.6 mm. Antennal segments 40 — 42 (41.2 ± 0.8, 5). Male genitalia. Capsule
length 364 - 424 µm (388 ± 19.4, 15), wider than in atrifrontella, width 308 — 356 µm . Vinculum with posterior
part of ventral plate about half as long as ventral plate. Tegumen slightly cuspidate. Gnathos with central element
long and narrow, parallel-sided. Valva length 279—321 µm (299.7 ± 13.5, 15), triangular, with indistinct rounded
mesal lobe basally, not projecting beyond inner margin; transtilla with long ventral arm. Aedeagus 343-403 µm 
(435.7 ± 19.1, 15), not constricted; ventral carinae long, but shorter than in atrifrontella, not serrate; lateral and
dorsal carinae not connected by rim, stout and pointed; dorsal carinae often bior multifurcate, with up to four
horns each. Vesica with egg-shaped sclerotised plate in addition to small cornuti. Female genitalia. T8 with many
long hairs, a row of more than 20 thicker and very long setae along anterior margin, scales absent; anterior margin
of T8 almost straight, slightly indented. Anal papillae with 7 — 12 setae. Posterior apophyses reaching distinctly
beyond anterior apophyses. Vestibulum with pair of indistinct sclerotisations. Corpus bursae 1050 — 1450 µm,
covered with pectinations, partly in concentric bands around signa; signa elongate, similar, length 440 — 737 µm
(562 ± 77 µm , 16), 4.0 — 5.2 x as long as wide. Ductus spermathecae with 3  1/2 - 3  3/4 convolutions. Larva not examined.

Associations: 

Host plants: Quercus robur L. and adults have been collected in forests with other species of Quercus as well. Mines on Castanea could also belong to this species. In fact only reared once by Schönherr (1958), but mistaken for atrifrontella. Mine. Not described, but probably not different from that of atrifrontella.

Distribution: 

Widely distributed in central and southern Europe, recently recorded from Britain (Hall 2010); in Scandinavia only known from Sweden: Mutanen et al. 2001 and Norway: Van Nieukerken and Johansson 1990. Also occurring in Turkey, Finland: Mutanen et al. 2001; Latvia: Savenkov et al. 1996; Portugal: Van Nieukerken et al. 2004a, Laštůvka and Laštůvka 2008; Czech Republic: Laštůvka and Laštůvka 1991; Slovakia: Laštůvka and Laštůvka 1991; Greece: Laštůvka and Laštůvka 1998; Russia: Van Nieukerken et al. 2004b; Puplesis 1994. See also Baldizzone 2004; Nieukerken et al. 2006. Recorded from Bulgaria, Macedonia, San Marino, Switzerland and first in detail for Georgia by van Nieukerken et al. (2010)

Life cycle: 

Life history. Under the name atrifrontella, Schönherr (1958) reported a two year cycle for this species -this is analogous to liebwerdella. There are also larvae with a one year life cycle.
Adults fly from 6 June to 30 August, in Yugoslavia also in May, and occasionally in early August, thus not occurring as late as atrifrontella.

Citation: 

This taxonomic description is based on Van Nieukerken (1985) and Van Nieukerken et al. (2010)

Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith