Stigmella perpygmaeella
Diagnosis. See S. incognitella.
Male. Wingspan: 5.0-5.7 mm. Head: frontal tuft ochreous; collar dull ochreous; scape yellowish white; antenna three-fifths of forewing length. Thorax grey-brown. Forewing: unicolorous grey-brown, coarsely scaled, distal part of wing with faint violet sheen. Cilia grey brown, slightly paler at tips. Hindwing and cilia grey. Abdomen fuscous with small yellowish grey anal tufts. Female. Antenna slightly shorter. Abdomen with pointed ovipositor and long pale grey anal tufts. Male genitalia. Vinculum long, deeply excavated; lateral lobes broad, club-shaped. Uncus small with broad medial emargination and usually distinct paramedial notches. Gnathos with narrow lateral arms; horns and transverse bar forming an U. Valva short with very short distal process. Transtilla with slender transverse bar; lateral arms long, club- shaped. Aedeagus short, vesica with numerous needle-shaped spines arranged in two groups. Manica spined. Female genitalia. Corpus bursae small, egg-shaped, without pectinations. Accessory sac absent. Ductus spermathecae as long as or slightly longer than corpus. Vestibulum long with small reticulate pouch near entrance of ductus spermathecae. Apophyses anteriores moderately long, gradually tapering, posteriores of almost same length, slender. Sternum VII with medial, longitudinal ridge.
Host plants: Crataegus; also reported to feed on Malus and Hippophae but this is not confirmed by breeding. Egg: usually laid on petioles of leaves, 10-15 mm from blade or more rarely on underside of leaf, close to midrib. Larva: yellow to greenish yellow. Mine : first part of mine following the frill on the petiole or a vein; in blade widening and following a vein or leaf margin 15-20 mm; much longer in thin leaves. First half of mine filled with brown frass followed by a short part with frass deposited in arcs; in last third frass in a broad winding line. In other populations (in the Netherlands) the mine is frequently started from an egg on leaf-underside close to midrib and mine confined to the space between midrib and first or second lateral vein. Cocoon: pink to pale red-brown.
In eastern Denmark, in Sweden up to Vstm. Not in Norway. Only from A1 in Finland. - Widely distributed with its host plant, Crataegus, throughout Europe from the British Isles to the Mediterranean.
Voltinism: bivoltine, in Scandinavia with larvae mining in July and September.
Description based on Johansson and Nielsen (1990)