A review of the leaf blotch miners of the genus Phyllonorycter Hübn. (Lepidoptera, Gracillariidae) in the Middle Volga Area, with a key to the species using morphological characters of the female genitalia

Abstract

Data on the fauna and bionomics of the leaf blotch miner genus Phyllonorycter Hbn. of the Middle Volga Area are given. Twenty-eight species have been reared from leaf mines on more than 20 species of hosts in the investigated area. The harmful species Phyllonorycter medicaginella (infesting herbaceous legumes), Ph. apparella (the larvae heavily infest poplar leaves), and Ph. issikii are new to the region. Details of the female genitalia of Phyllonorycter are reported, and their characters are used for species diagnostics for the first time. A key to 13 Phyllonorycter species is given, with data on their host plants.