Leaf-miner: Initially in short gallery becoming a brownish blotch near the leaf
margin. Later in two or three Parornix-like folds at the
edge of the leaf (British
leafminers).
Small
(up to 10 mm long), lower-surface blotch near the leaf margin, with
a brownish lower epidermis. The mine in fact is a tentiform mine,
but so little silk is produced that the blotch hardly contracts
at all. The mine is preceded by a quite short corridor, that is
overrun by the later blotch. The older larva leaves its mine and
starts feeding under a flap of the leaf margin that is folded down
and fixed with silk on the blade underside. Two or three such folds
are made, not necessarily on the same leaf. The fact that no leaf
rolls are made, but parts of the leaf are folded down rather makes
one think of the work of a Parornix (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).
Whitish with pale brown head (Bladmineerders van Europa).
Pupa: The pupae of moths have visible head appendages, wings and legs which lie in sheaths (see examples).
Under a turned over leaf edge (British
leafminers).
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: July - August (British
leafminers).
Time
of year - adults: Currently unknown.
Distribution
in Great Britain and Ireland: Britain including Hampshire
(Fleet, Portsmouth and Emsworth) (British
leafminers); Dorset, East Norfolk, East Suffolk, Herefordshire, Leicestershire, Middlesex, Shropshire, South Hampshire, South Wiltshire, Surrey, West Kent, West Norfolk and West Suffolk (NBN
Atlas).
See also British
leafminers distribution map.
Also
recorded in the Republic of Ireland (Fauna Europaea).
Distribution
elsewhere: Widespread in continental Europe including Austria,
Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia,
Finland, French mainland, Germany, Hungary, Italian mainland, Latvia,
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Portuguese mainland,
Romania, Russia - Central, Northwest and South, Sardinia, 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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