Philophylla caesio (Harris, 1780)

Shcherbakov, Mikhail V., 2020, A review of leaf-miner tephritid flies (Diptera, Tephritidae) of the south-eastern part of West Siberia, Russia, Acta Biologica Sibirica 6, pp. 637-647 : 637

Philophylla caesio (Harris, 1780)

Material.

Altaiskii Krai: 1 ♂, 7 km SW of Biisk, Kanonerskoe lake , mixed grass meadow, 26.VI.2003 ; 1 ♂, 51°09'38"N, 83°01'50"E, 54 km E of Zmeinogorsk, near Tigirek village , 475 m a.s.l., mixed grass near road, 11.VII.2012 . Republic of Altai : 1 ♀, 51°37'11"N, 85°42'22"E, 36 km N of Shebalino village, near Kamlak village , 382 m a.s.l., mixed grass forest, 20.VII.2012 ; 1 ♀, 51°37'29"N, 85°42'06"E, ibidem, mixed forest in valley of Sema river , 27.VII.2012 ; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, 50°36'17"N, 86°29'37"E, 30 km SE Ongudai village, 701 m a.s.l., right bank of Bolshoi Ilgumen river , Kur-Kechu hole, forest, 23 & 24.VII.2015 . Tomskaya Oblast, Tomsk: 1 ♂, "Universitetskaya roshcha" park in city centre, 21.VI.2007; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, idem, 26.VI.2008 ; 2 ♂, ibidem, 29.VI.2014; 1 ♀, southern uptown, 22.VI.2008; 1 ♂, experimental area of Botanical Garden , 27.VI.2012 .

Trophic relations.

Urtica dioica ( Urticaceae) ( Ellis 2020). A number of references provide data on the trophic relations of the species such as leaf-miners on stinging nettle, but in the Key to Tephritid Flies of Great Britain I, White (1988) commented on data by Beiger (1968) regarding mines located in the leaf petiole, but not the leaf lamina ( White 1988). In A Handbook Plant Parasites of Europe devoted to leaf-miners, galls and fungal infection, this species is regarded as an inhabitant of stems lacking gall generation ( Ellis 2020). A reference to the biology of Myoleja caesio was overlooked during the compilation of this Handbook . Ferrar (1987) noted that Beiger (1968) reared Philophylla caesio from mines in the petioles of an Urtica sp. ( Urticaceae). The larva is described as having 19-20 anterior spiracle lobes, a number typical of stem- and leaf-mining Trypetini .

Distribution.

Europe, Middle East, China; Russia: East and Central regions of European part, South Siberia, the Russian Far East (Korneyev, Ovtshinnikova 2004).