Leaf-miner: The mine is a whitish blotch with scattered blackish frass (UKMoths),
usually low on the plant (British
leafminers).
Oviposition
on the basal part of the midrib. The young larva makes a number
of short corridors radiating from this point, either in the same
leaf, or on different ones; they have a central frassline, but their
final sections are free of frass. Later an elongate blotch is make,
also beginning on the midrib (although not necessarily its basal
part). Pupation external (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).

Larva of Mompha locupletella on Epilobium
Image: © Robert Davey
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Greyish green; head and prothoracic plate black (Koster, 2002b;
Koster and Sinev, 2003a) (Bladmineerders van Europa).
Pupa: The pupae of moths have visible head appendages, wings and legs which lie in sheaths (see examples).
Pupation in a white cocoon, which is attached to vegetation or leaf litter
(British
leafminers). See also Patocka and Turcáni (2005a) (Bladmineerders van Europa).
Adult:
The adult is illustrated in UKMoths
(by Jon Baker) and the Encyclopedia
of Life. The species is included in mothdissection.co.uk.
Hosts in Great Britain and Ireland:
Hosts
elsewhere:
Time
of year - larvae: April and May, then again in July and August
(UKMoths).
Time
of year - adults: The two generations of adult moths are on
the wing from May to July and again in August and September (UKMoths).
Distribution
in Great Britain and Ireland: Distributed widely throughout
much of the British Isles (UKMoths)
including Anglesey, Banffshire, Breconshire, Caernarvonshire, Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire, Cumberland, Denbighshire,
Dorset, Dumfriesshire, Dunbartonshire, Durham, East Cornwall, East Kent, Easterness, Fife, Flintshire, Glamorgan, Haddington, Herefordshire, Isle of Wight, Kirkudbrightshire, Main Argyll, Merionethshire,
Monmouthshire, Montgomeryshire, North Aberdeenshire, North Devon, Outer Hebrides, Shropshire, South Aberdeenshire, South Hampshire, South Lancashire, South Somerset,
Stafford, Stirlingshire, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Cornwall, West Gloucestershire, West Norfolk, West Sutherland, Westmorland, Worcestershire and Shetland (NBN
Atlas), the Channel Is. (Fauna Europaea).
See also British
leafminers distribution map.
Also recorded in Northern Ireland
and Northern Ireland (Fauna Europaea and National Biodiversity Data Centre Map).
Distribution
elsewhere: Widespread in continental Europe including Austria,
Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic,
Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Hungary,
Italian mainland, Kaliningrad Region, Latvia, Lithuania, Norwegian
mainland, Poland, Romania, Russia - Central, North and Northwest,
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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