n/a	Status LU: uncertain. 1st record: 2011.
	Lisär-Minnematt	Status Eur.: established.
	n/a	RA: ISEIA: C1. Harmonia+: n/a.
	Luzernenminiermotte	Wikipedia:   | Wikispecies:
	Honingklavervouwmot	Back to the list of invertebrates

Report the species

→ Report Phyllonorycter medicaginella to the National Museum of Natural History.

Brief description

Phyllonorycter medicaginella (Gerasimov, 1930) is a moth of the family Gracillariidae. It is found from Denmark and Poland to Belgium, the Alps, Bulgaria and Ukraine. The larvae feed on Medicago falcata, Medicago lupulina, Medicago sativa, Melilotus alba, Melilotus officinalis, Ononis spinosa, Trifolium dubium, Trifolium campestre and Trifolium repens. They mine the leaves of their host plant (Wikipedia contributors 2020).

Status and distribution in Luxembourg

Phyllonorycter medicaginella (Gerasimov, 1930) was first documented by Marcel Hellers on 9 October 2011 at Grousse Mies in Bissen (Hellers 2017: 139).

This species is very rare depending on the year, and then again frequent. It lives on lucerne (Medicago sativa). Here it forms large blister mines on the underside of the leaves. Unlike most other species of this genus, the butterflies hatch in autumn and overwinter as imago. This seems to be a survival strategy of the animals, as the delicate leaves would decay in winter and the caterpillars would have to hibernate unprotected (Hellers 2017: 139-140).

Risk assessment

ISEIA protocol

C1 (3+1+1+1) (Ries et al. 2017: 69).

Harmonia+ protocol

Overall risk score 0,11 = (Overall Invasion score 0,73 x Overall Impact score 0,17) (evaluated by Jennifer Cross, Svenja Christian and Roland Proess).

Worldwide distribution

Bibliography

• GBIF, 2020. in GBIF Secretariat (2019). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://www.gbif.org/species/1652212 [accessed 2020-04-10]
• Hellers M., 2017. Die Kleinschmetterlinge Luxemburgs: die Familien Roeslerstammiidae, Douglasiidae, Bucculatricidae und Gracillariidae (Lepidoptera: Gracillariiidea). Bull. Soc. Nat. luxemb. 119: 129-144. [PDF 5,21 MB]
• MNHNL, 2000-. Phyllonorycter medicaginella (Gerasimov, 1930) in Recorder-Lux, database on the natural heritage of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Musée national d’histoire naturelle, Luxembourg. URL: https://mdata.mnhn.lu [Accessed 2019-10-25]
• MNHNL, iNaturalist & GBIF, 2019. Phyllonorycter medicaginella (Gerasimov, 1930) in MNHNL-mdata, online portal combining species observation from Recorder-Lux, iNaturalist and GBIF. National Museum of Natural History, Luxembourg. URL: https://mdata.mnhn.lu [Accessed 2019-10-25]
• Ries, C., A. Arendt, C. Braunert, S. Christian, A. Dohet, A. Frantz, G. Geimer, M. Hellers, J. A. Massard, X. Mestdagh, R. Proess, N. Schneider & M. Pfeiffenschneider, 2017. Environmental impact assessment and black, watch and alert list classification after the ISEIA Protocol of invertebrates in Luxembourg. Bull. Soc. Nat. luxemb. 119: 63-70. [PDF 360 KB]
• Wikipedia contributors, 2020. ‘Phyllonorycter medicaginella’, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 19 February 2020, 18:33 UTC, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Phyllonorycter_medicaginella&oldid=941624287 [accessed 2020-04-10]