Cirsium arvense Key

Key to leaf-feeding micro-moth larvae on creeping thistle (Cirsium arvense) Compiled by Ian F. Smith

convention : [pale] brown = pale brown or brown.

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The key: (previous couplet)

4a Abdominal prolegs thin and elongate.......goto 5

4b Abdominal prolegs not thin and elongate.......goto 7

Included:
a) Leaf feeders on other species of Cirsium.
b) Several probable, but not all possible, Cirsium feeding polyphages.
c) Several, but not all, early instars.

Excluded:
a) Stem, flower head, seed head and root feeders.
b) 1076 Celypha lacunana. A very common polyphage, but too many varieties to include.
c) 1380 Phlyctaenia perlucidalis. No larval description or photographs available Feb. 2004.
d) 814a Scrobipalpa pauperella. No larval description or photographs available Feb. 2004. A rare species from Chippenham Fen, Cambridgeshire.