Chrysaster hagicola Kumata, 1961

Kirichenko, Natalia, Triberti, Paolo, Akulov, Evgeniy, Ponomarenko, Margarita, Gorokhova, Svetlana, Sheiko, Viktor, Ohshima, Issei & Lopez-Vaamonde, Carlos, 2019, Exploring species diversity and host plant associations of leaf-mining micromoths (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) in the Russian Far East using DNA barcoding, Zootaxa 4652 (1), pp. 1-55 : 33

Chrysaster hagicola Kumata, 1961

( Figs 14 D–E)

Material examined. Russia: PK, Gornotaezhnoe , forest around MTS, 43.68N, 132.17E, 224 m alt., Lespedeza bicolor , 3.VII.2016, 1 larva, NK551 , MK 403724 , deposited in INRA.

Leaf mine. The mine is a whitish flat blotch, with a short preceding tunnel that starts nearby the main vein on the upper side of the leaf ( Fig. 14D ). The frass is attached to the epidermis and the bottom of the mine, making the central part of the mine darker. The larva uses this area as a shelter hiding itself especially when disturbed ( Fig. 14E ). It vacates the mine through a semicircular slip in the upper epidermis and pupates in an oval cocoon at the leaf margin.

Trophic specialization. Oligophagous on Fabaceae : Lespedeza bicolor , L. cyrtobotrya , Robinia pseudoacacia ( De Prins & De Prins 2018) .

Distribution. Russia: RFE—PK ( Kumata 1963; Baryshnikova 2008); Japan ( Kumata 1961), Korea ( Kumata et al. 1983), China ( Liu et al. 2015).

Figures

FIGURE 14. Mines, leaf shelters and pupation sites of Phyllonorycter, Chrysaster and Cameraria spp. from the Russian Far East. (A) Phyllonorycter sp. 7, host plant Ulmus glabra; (B–C) Phyllonorycter sp. 8, Juglans mandshurica; (D–E) Chrysaster hagicola, Lespedeza bicolor; (F–G) Cameraria niphonica, Acer pseudosieboldianum and A. caudatum subsp. ukurundense, respectively; (H) Phyllocnistis sp. 1, Salix sp. Indications: (m) mine; (b) blotch part of the mine; (t) epidermal tunnel; (l) larva; (p) pupation site. Close up: (C–G) mine; (H) pupation site. Sampling locations: (A) SO, Sakhalin Isl., Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, 11–20.VII.2017; (B–H) PK, Gornotaezhnoe, MTS and forest, 22–26.VII.2016.