Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Birch leaf bugs


The young birch tree on Thistle Moor in the Square Metre has been attacked by three insect species this spring. There was a caterpillar in a folded leaf, probably a micro moth as soon as the birch leaves appeared.

A little later I found leaves damaged by two invertebrate species, the leaf mines (top photo) of the white-spot purple moth (Eriocrania unimaculella) and the birch leaf-rolling weevil (Deporaus betulae), both new species for the quadrat.

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