Leaf miner: Makes an irregular blotch mine. The initial frass-filled gallery is very contorted (as shown. This distinguishes it from the mines of S.plagicolella, which have the initial gallery long and sinuous, with linear frass). It then makes an irregular gallery with clear margins and linear frass. Finally there is a small clear blotch, with the frass in a heap at the mouth of the gallery. The larva feeds with its ventral surface uppermost (British
leafminers).
Egg at the underside of the leaf, usually near the midrib, sometimes a side vein or the leaf margin. The first part of the mine is a narrow gallery, almost completely filled with reddish frass; the corridor is strongly contorted, almost forming a secondary blotch. The continuation is somewhat less contorted, and here the frass leaves clear margins. Finally the corridor widens into a rather small elongate blotch, where much of the copious frass is compacted in the basal section. The mine is compressed in a limited space, and the final blotch often obliterates earlier parts of the mine
(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).
Pale white. Described by Gustafsson and van Nieukerken (1990a)
(Bladmineerders van Europa).
Pupa: The pupae of moths have visible head appendages, wings and legs which lie in sheaths (see examples).
Adult:
The adult is not illustrated in UKMoths (check for update). The species is included in mothdissection.co.uk.
Hosts in Great Britain and Ireland:
Hosts
elsewhere:
Time
of year - larvae:
End of June - end of October (Bladmineerders van Europa)
Time
of year - adults: Currently unknown.
Distribution
in Great Britain and Ireland: Britain including East Norfolk, East Suffolk, Isle of Wight, North Essex,
North Somerset, South Essex, West Lancashire, West Norfolk and West Suffolk (NBN
Atlas). See also British
leafminers distribution map.
Distribution
elsewhere: Widespread in continental Europe including Austria,
Bulgaria, Corsica, Croatia, Czech Republic, French mainland, Germany,
Greek mainland, Hungary, Italian mainland, Poland, Romania, Russia
- South, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, The Netherlands and Ukraine.
Also recorded in the East Palaearctic and Near East (Fauna Europaea).
NBN Atlas links to known host species:
British and Irish Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere:
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