Stigmella mespilicola
Diagnosis. S. mespilicola and S. hybnerella closely resemble each other (see diagnosis of hybnerella).
Male. Wingspan: 4.0-5.0 mm. Head: frontal tuft black; collar small, black; scape white; antenna shining dark grey, slightly longer than half length of forewing. Thorax strongly shining, brass- coloured. Forewing narrow; area proximal to fascia strongly shining, copper-brown, deep purple near costa, dorsum from base to near fascia brass-coloured; fascia distinctly postmedial, broad, shining pale golden; distal to fascia blackish brown, tinged with blue and purple; terminal cilia dark grey, extreme tips paler grey. Hindwing: grey; basal two-thirds with blue-black scales, blue-black androconial scales at costa and dorsum extending over cilia to at most one-fifth; distal third brown; cilia grey. Abdomen: black. Female. Wingspan: 4.0-5.0 mm. Antenna about half as long as forewing. Hindwing and cilia grey; without androconial scales.
Male genitalia. Genital capsule as long as wide. Vinculum with moderate excavation; lateral corners short. Uncus very broad; hind margin straight to slightly convex, with pair of short latero-posterior processes. Gnathos with long and slender transverse bar; horns widely separated, long and pointed, without distinct anterior processes. Valva short, with short, pointed distal process reaching to mid-length of uncus; inner lobe short, blunt, not reaching to hind-margin of uncus. Transtilla without distinct sublateral processes. Aedeagus distinctly longer than genital capsule; vescia with long band of several hundred pointed cornuti, without triangular cornuti near tip. Female genitalia. Corpus bursae with indistinct band of pectinations around middle. Accessory sac markedly shorter than corpus bursae; usually with four convolutions. Ductus spermathecae about as long as accessory sac.
Host plants: Sorbus aria, S. torminalis, Amelanchier and and Cotoneaster. Not recorded from Craetagus. Egg: on upper surface of leaf. Larva: very pale green to yellowish green. Mine : a short gradually widening gallery, sometimes terminating in a small elongated blotch; frass deposited in a broad, frequently interrupted central line. Cocoon: dark brown. Voltinism: bivoltine in Hungary and northern Italy; possibly also with a second generation in central Europe.
Not in Denmark and Fennoscandia. - Known from southern Germany, Switzerland, northern Italy, Austria and Hungary, recently found in England (Herefordshire). Records from north of these areas are apparently all based on misidentifications.
Description based on Johansson and Nielsen (1990)
