Leaf-miner: Initially a gallery is made and filled with frass. It is widened
abruptly into a blotch, which absorbs the gallery and may occupy
the whole leaf. The frass may then be dispersed or heaped in the
blotch. A larva may mine more than one leaf before it vacates the
mine (UKMoths).
Corridor,
densely packed with frass, suddenly widening into a blotch that
often occupies the entire width of the leaf, then overrunning the
initial corridor. Frass in the blotch disersed or clumped. The larvae
can leave the mine and restart elsewhere. Pupation outside the mine
(Bladmineerders van Europa).
The
mine is also 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).
The
larva is illustrated in (Bladmineerders van Europa).
Pupa: The pupae of moths have visible head appendages, wings and legs which lie in sheaths (see examples).
Pupation in a silk cocoon among leaf litter (UKMoths;
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: October-April and June-July (UKMoths;
British
leafminers).
Time
of year - adults: The adults fly in two generations, primarily
May-mid June, and mid July-August, but specimens can be found any
time from late April to early October. Adults can often be taken
in a fine meshed net by day, if the foodplants or nearby low vegetation
are disturbed (UKMoths).
Distribution
in Great Britain and Ireland: The distribution of this moth
follows that of its foodplants; rockroses (Helianthemum spp.),
which are confined to limestone and chalk in southern Britain, but
extends onto slightly acid soils in N.E. England and E. Scotland.
It is usually a common moth, wherever its foodplants occur (UKMoths),
including Anglesey, Berkshire, Caernarvonshire,
Cambridgeshire, Cardinganshire, Denbighshire, Derbyshire, Dorset, Durham, East Gloucestershire,
East Kent, East Suffolk, Flintshire, Glamorgan, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire,
Kincardineshire, Leicestershire, Montgomeryshire, North Hampshire, North Somerset, Pembrokeshire, Shropshire, South Aberdeenshire, South Wiltshire, South Northumberland, South-west Yorkshire, Stafford, West Gloucestershire, West Lancashire, West Norfolk and Westmorland (NBN
Atlas).
See also British
leafminers distribution map.
Distribution
elsewhere: Widespread in continental Europe including Andorra,
Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Corsica, Crete,
Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland,
French mainland, Germany, Greek mainland, Hungary, Italian mainland,
Latvia, Macedonia, Poland, Portuguese mainland, Romania, Russia
- South, Sardinia, Sicily, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spanish mainland,
Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Ukraine and Yugoslavia (Fauna Europaea).
NBN Atlas links to known host species:
British and Irish Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere:
|