Leaf-miner: In a small Phyllonorycter-like mine initially, but with brown
rather than green lower epidermis. Later in two or more successive
cones formed by folding leaf-lobes downwards (British
leafminers).
The
mine begins at a flat, iridescent egg shell. It starts as an epidermal
corridor, widening into (and mostly over run by) a shallow lower
surface blotch in the tip of a leaf segment. The lower epidermis
is off-grey with small light brown spots at first, but soon turns
brown. Silk is deposited within the mine, causing it to contract.
This wrinkles the lower epidermis, but there are no clear folds
formed. Soon the larva starts consuming the palissade parenchyma,
and the upperside of the mine than turns brown as well. Frass in
loose grains. After some time the larva leaves its mine and continues
living free under a downfolded leaf segment, kept in place by some
spinning. Here too the leaf tissue is consumed up to the palissade
parenchyma, browning the leaf (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).
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).
In a folded leaf edge or on leaf-litter (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-September (British
leafminers).
Time
of year - adults: The adult moths are on the wing in two generations,
during April and May and again in August (UKMoths).
Distribution
in Great Britain and Ireland: Very common throughout the British
Isles (UKMoths)
including Anglesey, Ayrshire, Bedfordshire, Breconshire, Buckinghamshire,
Caernarvonshire, Cambridgeshire, Carmarthenshire, Cheshire, Denbighshire,
Derbyshire, Dorset, Dumfriesshire, Dunbartonshire, Durham, East Cornwall, East Gloucestershire, East Kent, East Norfolk, East Ross, East Suffolk, East Sussex, Flintshire, Glamorgan, Haddington, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire,
Huntingdonshire, Isle of Man, Isle of Wight, Kincardineshire, Linlithgow, Merionethshire,
Mid-west Yorkshire, Middlesex, Monmouthshire, Montgomeryshire, North Aberdeenshire, North Devon, North Essex, North Hampshire, North Somerset, North Wiltshire,
Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Pembrokeshire, Shropshire, South Aberdeenshire, South Devon, South Hampshire, South Lancashire, South Somerset, South Northumberland, South Wiltshire,
South-east Yorkshire, South-west Yorkshire, Stafford, Stirlingshire, Surrey, West Cornwall, West Gloucestershire, West Kent, West Lancashire, West norfolk, West Suffolk, West Sussex, Westmorland, Wigtownshire and Worcestershire (NBN
Atlas).
See also British
leafminers distribution map.
Also
recorded in the Republic of Ireland and Northern
Ireland (Fauna Europaea and National Biodiversity Data Centre Map).
Distribution
elsewhere: Widespread in continental Europe including Albania,
Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Corsica,
Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland, French mainland,
Germany, Hungary, Italian mainland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg,
Macedonia, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Portuguese mainland, Romania,
Russia - Central and North, Sardinia, Sicily, Slovakia, Sweden,
Switzerland, The Netherlands, Ukraine and Yugoslavia. Also recorded
in Near East and Nearctic region (Fauna Europaea).
NBN Atlas links to known host species:
British and Irish Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere:
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