Aspen - Populus tremula

Stigmella assimilella

A small moth with a wingspan of 5.4 to 6.2 mm. Adults difficult to distinguish from other Stigmella species, and more frequently recorded in the larval stage where it creates a leaf mine on the leaves of Aspen (Populus tremula) and occasionally Grey Poplar or White Poplar. The initial corridor is contorted, then widening into a blotch-like corridor; central frass line leaving a clear zone either side. 

Ectoedemia argyropeza

A small moth with a wingspan of about 7 mm. It lacks discrete white spots but does show a suggestion of mid-costal and dorsal white spots; frontal tuft pale ferruginous, collar concolorous; eyecaps white. The larva mines the leaves of Aspen, first galling the leaf petiole, then forming a triangular blotch extending from the midrib.  The larvae continue to feed in 'green islands' in fallen leaves. 

Harmandiola tremulae

Harmandiola tremulae is a gall midge whose larvae feed on Aspen causing galls to form on the upperside of the leaves. The galls are globose, 3 to 4 mm across with thick walls, glossy-red when mature but often turning black later.  The opening to the gall is underside, and surrounded by a slightly protruding rim.

Contarinia petioli

Harmandiola globuli

The gall midge Harmandiola globuli causes galls on the leaves of Aspen and White Poplar. The galls are raised, rounded, with thin walls, and sometimes with a collar-like ring.  They 2.5 mm across and are dull red or yellowish. They contain larva which are orange when mature.

Agromyza albitarsis

The larvae of the fly Agromyza albitarsis mine the leaves of Aspen, hybrid Black Poplar, other poplars and willows, forming a large greenish blotch mine which turns brown.

Chaitophorus tremulae

The apterae of the aphid Chaitophorus tremulae are elongate oval with the dorsum solidly blackish sclerotic, rather densely sculptured with denticular spinules (=small toothlike spines), and very often with a paler line along the mid-dorsum.

Phyllocoptes populi

Phyllocoptes populi is a mite that causes galls to form on the leaves of Aspen and very occasionally on other members of the Poplar family. The gall has a distinctive yellowish bulge on upperside; the underside is an erineum with hairs that the mites live in between. The hairs below are pale at first, reddish or brown later, each broadened at the tip.

Heterarthrus ochropoda

The larva of the sawfly Heterarthrus ochropoda mine the leaves of Populus species, usually Aspen in Britain, forming a large, deep, upper-surface blotch that starts at the leaf margin, without an accumulation of frass. Around the oviposition site the leaf turns reddish brown. Frass occurs in scattered grains. The larva is white with a brown head, and distinctive markings just beneath the head on the underside. Feet are short and stubby.

Chaitophorus populeti

The aphid Chaitophorus populeti lives on the young shoots and terminal leaf petioles of various Poplar species, especially those of Aspen and White Poplar and their hybrid Grey Poplar. The body length is 1.5 to 2.9 mm.  The nymphs of this species are distinctively patterned, the adult apterae are black and more difficult unless recorded in association with nymphs.

Phyllonorycter comparella

The larva of the moth Phyllonorycter comparella makes a mine on the underside of leaves of Grey Poplar, White Poplar and occasionally Hybrid Black Poplar. The mines are small and hard to find on the commonest hosts, Grey or White Poplar; there is little contraction or distortion of the leaf, and the underneath of the mine is hidden in the woolly undersurface of the leaf.

Aulagromyza tremulae

The larva of the Agromyzid fly Aulagromyza tremulae mines the leaves of Aspen (and possibly Black Poplar). The mine is a long winding gallery on the underside of the leaf.

Dasineura populeti

The larvae of the gall midge Dasineura populeti cause galls to form on the leaves of some Poplar species.  The host is nearly always Aspen, but very rarely Populus alba or P x canescens are used. The leaf margins roll upwards to form the galls and these may contain the white midge larvae.  Identification of the species causing the gall is difficult, and unless the larvae have been bred through and the adults identified, the identification of species cannot be confirmed with certainty.

Aceria dispar

The mite Aceria dispar causes galling of the leaves of Aspen (and possibly White Poplar).  The margins of the young leaves are rolled towards the midrib, usually affecting both sides.  It often affects many leaves, which become distorted and often bunched together. These leaf rolls contain mites.