Moths of North Carolina

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View PDF	Nepticulidae Members:	Stigmella Members:	19 NC Records

Stigmella corylifoliella (Clemens, 1861) - No Common Name

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Taxonomy

Superfamily:
Nepticuloidea

Family:
Nepticulidae

Subfamily:
Nepticulinae

Tribe:
Nepticulini

P3 Number:
16a0020

MONA Number:
92.00

Comments: Members of the genus Stigmella are a group of small leaf-mining moths that typically create linear mines, although a few species form linear-blotch or blotch mines. Newton and Wilkinson (1982) recognized 51 species in their revision on the North American fauna, and new discoveries have since raised the total to around 57 species. Almost all species are specialists and rarely use more than one genus of host plants. Host-specificity, mine characteristics, and genitalic differences are helpful in recognizing closely related forms that are externally similar.

Identification

Field Guide Descriptions:

Online Resources: MPG, BugGuide, iNaturalist, Google, BAMONA, GBIF, BOLD

Technical Description, Adults: Wilkinson and Scoble (1979).

Adult Markings: The following description of the adults is based on descriptions in Braun (1917) and Wilkinson and Scoble (1979). The palps are gray and lustrous, and the antenna is purplish gray and lustrous. The eye-cap is shining white and often has brownish purple shading around the edges. The collar varies from pale ochreous to gray-purple. The tuft on the front of head and vertex is pale ochreous to bright orange-ochreous. The thorax and abdomen are dark grayish purple. The ground color of the forewing is dark grayish brown to purplish black and sometimes has a bronze or purple reflection. There is a single broad, white, postmedial fascia that is shining silver. The fringe is gray and irrorate with brown. The legs are purplish gray to purplish black and lustrous, with pale ochreous patches that are most evident on the forelegs, midlegs, hind tarsi and tibial spurs. Stigmella corylifoliella is indistinguishable from S. ostryaefoliella and S. caryaefoliella based on external traits. It is best identified using genitalia, barcoding, or host plant affiliation.

Wingspan: 3.2-4.2 mm for males; 3.6-4.2 mm for females (Wilkinson and Scoble, 1979).

Adult Structural Features: The following description of the male genitalia is from Wilkinson and Scoble (1979). The tegumen is in the form of a narrow, serrate band that is slightly arcuate. The saccus is bilobed, and the uncus is rectangular and weakly bilobed. The gnathos has a short branch arising from each horn. The valves are narrow, extend beyond the uncus, and have thin hairs arising particularly from the inner apical
aspect. The transtilla has lateral arms that form a bilobed horizontal bar. The aedeagus is flask-shaped with a pair of palmate, arcuate plates at the phallotreme, and a pair of heavily sclerotized spine-like processes on the vesica. Females: The ductus bursae is short. The bursa copulatrix has striations and scale-like markings which become dense and denticulate to form a pair of rather weakly demarcated signa. The anterior apophyses are stout and arcuate, while the posterior apophyses are slightly longer, and straight and narrow.

Wilkinson and Scoble (1979) noted that S. corylifoliella differs from S. juglandfoliella in the overall form of the male genital
capsule; S. juglandifoliella has a very large ventral plate and the arms of the gnathos are less sigmoid in S. corylifoliella. This species can be distinguished from S. ostryaefoliella by its narrower, longer valves, in the serrate nature of the tegumen, and in the more shallow lobing of the saccus. The lateral bars of the transtilla are more extended in S. corylfoliella, which gives the horizontal bar a more bilobed appearance.

Adult ID Requirements: Identifiable only by close inspection of structural features or by DNA analysis.

Immatures and Development: The upper-surface mine is a long, very narrow winding track that is scarcely broader than the larva (Braun, 1917; Eiseman, 2019). The frass is deposited to create a narrow, central black line, and the edges of the mine are smooth. The larva is yellowish and feeds with its venter towards the leaf surface. At maturity, the larvae emerges from a cut slit and spins a brown cocoon.

Larvae ID Requirements: Identifiable from good quality photos, especially where associated with known host plants.

Distribution in North Carolina

Distribution: Stigmella corylifoliella is broadly distributed across Canada from the Northwest Territories and Alberta eastward to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland (Pohl et al. 2018; Eiseman, 2019). In the US it occurs from Michigan and Ohio eastward to Maine and Massachusetts, and as far south as Mississippi and North Carolina. As of 2019, our records are from the Blue Ridge.

County Map: Clicking on a county returns the records for the species in that county.


Flight Dates: High Mountains (HM) ≥ 4,000 ft. Low Mountains (LM) < 4,000 ft. Piedmont (Pd) Coastal Plain (CP) Click on graph to enlarge
Immature Dates: High Mountains (HM) ≥ 4,000 ft. Low Mountains (LM) < 4,000 ft. Piedmont (Pd) Coastal Plain (CP) Click on graph to enlarge
Flight Comments: Local populations appear to be bivoltine. Braun (1917) first found larvae in southern Ohio in June and early July. A second brood was was present from late August until October.

Habitats and Life History

Habitats: Stigmella corylifoliella is unusual among the eastern Stigmella in being polyphagous. It is known to feed on members of five families of vascular plants that occupy a wide ranges of ecological conditions.

Larval Host Plants: Hosts that have been documented through DNA barcoding by Erik van Nieukerken (Eiseman, 2019) include members of the Betulaceae (Alnus, Betula, Carpinus, Corylus, Ostrya), Ericaceae (Gaylussacia, Lyonia, Rhododendron, Vaccinium), Myricaceae (Comptonia, Morella, Myrica), Rhamnaceae (Ceanothus), and Rosaceae (Amelanchier, Physocarpus). In North Carolina, mines have been recorded on Hazel Alder (Alnus serrulata), River Birch (Betula nigra), American Hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana), hazel (Corylus), Maleberry (Lyonia ligustrina), Waxmyrtle (Morella cerifera), Northern Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), Hillside Blueberry (V. pallidum), and Deerberry (V. stamineum). - View

Observation Methods: The adults appear to only occasionally visit lights and most records for the eastern US are based on either leaf mines, or adults that were reared from mines.

Wikipedia

Status in North Carolina

Natural Heritage Program Status:

Natural Heritage Program Ranks: GNR SU

State Protection: Has no legal protection, although permits are required to collect it on state parks and other public lands.

Comments: We currently do not have sufficient information on the distribution and abundance of this species to assess its conservation status.

Photo Gallery for Stigmella corylifoliella - None

Photos: 22

	Recorded by: Dean Furbish on 2025-11-08 Wake Co. Comment:		Recorded by: Dean Furbish on 2025-11-08 Wake Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: Dean Furbish on 2025-11-08 Wake Co. Comment:		Recorded by: Mark Basinger on 2025-10-18 Lee Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: Jim Petranka, Becky Elkin, Nora Murdock, Marilyn Westphal on 2025-08-26 Rutherford Co. Comment:		Recorded by: Mark Basinger on 2025-08-14 Ashe Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: Mark Basinger on 2025-07-18 Wilson Co. Comment:		Recorded by: Mark Basinger on 2025-07-09 Brunswick Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: Mark Basinger on 2025-07-09 Brunswick Co. Comment:		Recorded by: David George, Rich Teper on 2024-11-05 Chatham Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: David George, Jeff Niznik, Stephen Dunn on 2024-08-02 Chatham Co. Comment:		Recorded by: David George, Jeff Niznik, Stephen Dunn on 2024-08-02 Chatham Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: David George, Jeff Niznik, Patrick Coin, Steve Hall, Carol Tingley, Tom Howard on 2024-07-27 Chatham Co. Comment:		Recorded by: Tracy Feldman on 2024-06-21 Chatham Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: David George, Jeff Niznik on 2024-06-10 Chatham Co. Comment:		Recorded by: David George, Jeff Niznik on 2024-06-10 Chatham Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: David George, Stephen Dunn, Jeff Niznik on 2023-07-31 Macon Co. Comment:		Recorded by: Jim Petranka on 2022-09-19 Madison Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: Jim Petranka on 2020-10-26 Madison Co. Comment: A backlit image of an unoccupied leaf mine on River Birch.		Recorded by: Jim Petranka on 2020-07-15 Madison Co. Comment: A backlit leaf of Deerberry (Vaccinium stamineum); note the dark central frass line.
	Recorded by: Jim Petranka on 2020-07-15 Madison Co. Comment: A backlit leaf of Deerberry (Vaccinium stamineum); note the dark central frass line.		Recorded by: Jim Petranka on 2020-07-15 Madison Co. Comment: A mine on Deerberry (Vaccinium stamineum); note the dark central frass line.