Leaf-miner: A broad intial mine from tip to base of leaf, which later contracts.
It then folds the leaf edge, later it rolls the whole leaf longitudinally.
Compare with C. betulicola,
which rolls the leaf transversally (British
leafminers).
At
first the mine is epidermal and rather large, sometimes even occupying
the entire length of the leaf. At a later stage the larva begins
to consume the tissue below the epidermis, and the mine becomes
a tentiform one; the leaf is strongly contracted by then. The epidermis
is brown. The mine may be lower-surface or upper-surface. After
the mine has been vacated the larva moves twice. At first it lives
in a rolled, sometimes just folded, leaf margin, next in a leaf
that has been rolled lengthwise. Pupation in a cocoon at the underside
of a leaf (Bladmineerders van Europa).
Despite
the scientific name, the larvae feed on birch leaves (UKMoths).
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, head light brown; pronotum without black markings (Brown,
1947a) (Bladmineerders van Europa).
Pupa: The pupae of moths have visible head appendages, wings and legs which lie in sheaths (see examples).
Described by Patocka and Zach (1995a) and Patocka and Turcani
(2005) (Bladmineerders van Europa).
Adult:
The adult is illustrated in UKMoths by Nigel Whinney. 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: August onwards, overwintering after which
they may be seen until April or May (UKMoths).
Distribution
in Great Britain and Ireland: A species of moorland and heath,
having a wide distribution over much of mainland Britain (UKMoths)
including East Kent, East Norfolk, East Suffolk, Glamorgan, Leicestershire, Herefordshire,
North Somerset, Shropshire, South Wiltshire, South-east Yorkshire, South-west Yorkshire, Stafford, Surrey, West Gloucestershire, West Kent, West Norfolk, West Suffolk 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,
Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland, French mainland,
Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norwegian mainland, Poland,
Romania, Russia - Central, East, North, Northwest and South, Slovakia,
Spanish mainland, 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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