Leaf-miner:
Young larvae make a number of rather large, untidy full depth mines.
The mines contain little or no frass. The lower-surface opening,
by which the larva has entered the mine, is irregularly roundish.
Older larvae live free on the plant (Bladmineerders van Europa).
Larva: The larvae of moths have a head capsule and chewing mouthparts with opposable mandibles (see video of a gracillarid larva feeding), six thoracic legs and abdominal legs (see examples).See Tremewan (1985a) (Bladmineerders van Europa). The larva pupates in a cocoon near the ground (Belgian Lepidoptera).
Pupa: The pupae of moths have visible head appendages, wings and legs which lie in sheaths (see examples).
Adult:
The adult is illustrated in UKMoths by Keith Dover.
The species is included in mothdissection.co.uk.
Hosts in Great Britain and Ireland:
Hosts
elsewhere:
Time
of year - larvae:
July till May the following year (Bladmineerders van Europa).
Time
of year - adults: June and July (UKMoths).
They are active during the day and both sexes visiting flowers.
They have a slow flight (Belgian Lepidoptera).
Distribution
in Great Britain and Ireland: Occurs mainly in the south,
but there are scattered colonies further north in such places as
Cumbria and North Wales. This local species is found mainly on limestone
outcrops and chalky habitats (UKMoths);
Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Caernarvonshire,
Cheshire, Cumberland, Denbighshire, Derbyshire, Dorset, Durham,
East Gloucestershire, East Kent, East Sussex, Flintshire, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, North Somerset, North Wiltshire, North-east Yorkshire,
North-west Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, South Hampshire,
South Wiltshire, South-east Yorkshire, South-west Yorkshire, Stafford, West Gloucestershire,
West Kent, West Lancashire, West Suffolk, West Sussex,
Westmorland and Worcestershire (NBN
Atlas).
Distribution
elsewhere: Widespread in continental Europe including Albania,
Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia,
Czech Republic, French mainland, Germany, Greek mainland, Hungary,
Italian mainland, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Republic of Moldova,
Poland, ? Portuguese mainland, Romania, Russia - South, Sicily,
Slovakia, Slovenia, Spanish mainland, Switzerland, Ukraine and Yugoslavia
(Fauna Europaea).
NBN Atlas links to known host species:
British and Irish Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere:
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