Horse-chestnut leaf miner

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Cameraria ohridella or Cameraria operculella

Secure

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Superfamily:	Gracillarioidea
Family:	Gracillariidae
Genus:	Cameraria
Species:	C. ohridella or C. operculella

Binomial name

Cameraria ohridella or Cameraria operculella
Deschka & Dimic, 1986

The horse chestnut leaf miner (Cameraria ohridella or Cameraria operculella) is a moth of the lepidopteran family Gracillariidae. The Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner was first observed in Macedonia in northern Greece in the late 1970's, and was described as a new species in 1986^[1]. The moth grows up to 5 mm long and has shiny, bright brown forewings with thin black and white stripes. Its larvae are leaf miners on the Common Horse-chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum), causing significant damage to the appearance of the trees. Despite the poor appearance of horse-chestnut trees infested with C. ohridella, there is no evidence that damage by the moth leads to a decline in tree health, the development of dieback, or tree death. Trees survive repeated infestations and re-flush normally in the following year. It appears that most of the damage caused by the moth occurs too late in the growing season to greatly affect tree performance. Consequently, there is no reason to fell and remove trees just because they are attacked by C. ohridella.^[2]

Leaf miner damage in Germany

The larva digs its way into the leaves of the tree, damaging the leaves and stunting growth. Infected leaves are covered in small brown patches which spread rapidly across the entire tree, giving an autumnal appearance (these patches are similar to damage caused by the fungus Guignardia aesculi, but can be distinguished by their more regular size and shape). Eventually the leaves die and drop off; when new ones grow they are again infected. This cycle can repeat itself several times in one season.

Cameraria ohridella has now been found in Ukraine, England, Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden and Switzerland.

The moth is able to live at temperatures as low as -23 °C, although it thrives in warmer climates, where it can achieve as many as six generations a year. Its natural enemies are parasitic wasps, but there are few of the required species in Europe, meaning there is next to no natural control.

Since 2001 an EU-wide multidisciplinary project, CONTROCAM ("Control of Cameraria"), has been trying to predict how much of an impact Cameraria ohridella will have, and to find methods of pest control.

The HAM-CAM Project was initiated in the city of Hamburg in 2001, to investigate the horse-chestnut leaf-miner. A DVD film was made about the biology and host plant and parasite relationship. For detailed information please see Abstract of HAM-CAM-Projekt, 2003