Leaf-miner: The larva feeds in a leaf-mine to begin with, then later feeds externally
on the leaves, shrivelling and blanching or browning them (UKMoths).
Initially
an extremely fine corridor along the leaf margin; these mines mainly
in the lower leaves. Frass in a narrow central line. The larva can
leave its mine and restart elsewhere. Older larvae live free, and
feed by slicing open the margin of a leaf segment near its tip and
eating away as much tissue as it can reach (to about one third of
its body length). The result is a number of full depth blotch mines.
When the larva has become too large even for this strategy, its
starts to feed freely on the leaf (Bladmineerders van Europa).
The
mines and larvae are illustrated in British
leafminers.
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).
Twice during its growth, it spins a white cocoonet in which it moults
its skin. The cocoonet is constructed on the upper surface of a
leaf, where it is easily detected. If held up to the light, the
larva, or its cast skin retaining the larval shape, can be seen
(UKMoths).
The
mining larva is amber yellow (intestine greenish as usual), head
and prothoracic shield brown; the chaetotaxy is described by Klimesch
(1942a) (Bladmineerders van Europa).
Pupa: The pupae of moths have visible head appendages, wings and legs which lie in sheaths (see examples).
The larva pupates in a distinctive whitish ribbed cocoon (UKMoths).
Adult:
The adult is illustrated in UKMoths.
The species is included in mothdissection.co.uk.
Hosts in Great Britain and Ireland:
Hosts
elsewhere:
Time
of year - larvae: April and May and again in July (UKMoths;
British
leafminers).
Time
of year - adults: May and June, then July to August (UKMoths).
Distribution
in Great Britain and Ireland: Fairly widespread in England
including Lancashire (Greater Manchester, Flixton), Chester (UKMoths),
Suffolk (Thetford) (British
leafminers); Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Dorset, Durham, East cornwall, East Norfolk, East Suffolk,
Haddington, Isle of Wight, North Hampshire, Shropshire, South Essex, Stafford,
West Norfolk, West Suffolk, Westmorland and Worcestershire (NBN
Atlas).
See also British
leafminers distribution map.
Also
recorded in the Republic of Ireland (Fauna Europaea and National Biodiversity Data Centre Map).
Distribution
elsewhere: Widespread in continental Europe including Austria,
Belarus, Belgium, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, French
mainland, Germany, Hungary, Italian mainland, Latvia, Lithuania,
Norwegian mainland, Poland, Romania, Russia - Central, East, North
and Northwest, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands and
Ukraine (Fauna Europaea).
NBN Atlas links to known host species:
British and Irish Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere:
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