Bedellia somnulentella (Zeller, 1847)
Sweet Potato Leaf Miner
(one synonym: Bedellia ipomoeae Bradley, 1953)
BEDELLIINAE,   LYONETIIDAE,   YPONOMEUTOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Bedellia somnulentella
Drawing by John William Douglas
,
XXII: Contributions to the Natural History of British Microlepidoptera,
Transactions of the Entomological Society of London,
New Series, Volume 2 (1852-1853), Plate XVII, fig. 1a,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

These Caterpillars are off-white with a dark line along the back, and a slight brown bulge on the side of each abdominal segment. The head is brown. The caterpillars feed by mining the leaves of various members of the Bindweed and Sweet Potato family (CONVOLVULACEAE) , eg:

  • Sweet Potato ( Ipomoea batatas ), and
  • Field Bindweed ( Convolvulus arvensis ).

    Bedellia somnulentella
    (Photo: courtesy of Graeme Cocks, Townsville, Queensland)

    The adult moths are fawn with a hairy head and thorax, and fringes of hairs on the trailing edge of each forewing, and around the whole of each hindwing. The antennae are nearly as long as the forewings. The moths have a wingspan of about 1 cm.

    Bedellia somnulentella
    (Photo: courtesy of the Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

    The eggs are laid singly on the upper surface of a leaf of a foodplant.

    Bedellia somnulentella
    Drawing by John William Douglas
    ,
    XXII: Contributions to the Natural History of British Microlepidoptera,
    Transactions of the Entomological Society of London,
    New Series, Volume 2 (1852-1853), Plate XVII, fig. 1,
    image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

    The species is found all over the world, for example:

  • Great Britain,
  • Japan,
  • New Zealand,
  • Russia,
  • South Africa,
  • U.S.A.,

    as well as in Australia including

  • Queensland,
  • New South Wales,
  • Australian Capital Territory,
  • Victoria,
  • Tasmania,
  • South Australia, and
  • Western Australia.


    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 21.12, p. 215.

    John William Douglas,
    XXII Contributions to the Natural History of British Microlepidoptera,
    Transactions of the Entomological Society of London,
    New Series, Volume 2 (1852-1853), pp. 208-209, No. 432, and Plate 17, fig. 1.

    Philipp C. Zeller,
    Bemerkungen über die auf einer Reise nach Italien und Sicilien beobachteten Schmetterlingsarten,
    Isis von Oken,
    Jena, Volume 40, Heft 12 (1847), pp. 894-895, No. 432.


    previous
    back
    caterpillar
    Australian
    Australian Butterflies
    butterflies
    Australian
    home
    Lepidoptera
    Australian

    imagoes
    next
    next
    caterpillar

    (updated 15 August 2011, 10 February 2025)