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Leaf-miner: A short gallery, frass dispersed in later part of mine (British leafminers).

Oviposition mostly at the upperside of the leaf, generally not far from the leaf margin. Mine an initially narrow corridor with a thin frass line, soon widening into a fairly long, broad corridor with a largely broad frass line; locally the frass may be coiled. Often the first part of the mine follows the leaf margin, entering the centre of the leaf after a hairpin turn (Bladmineerders van Europa).

It is recommended that you try to rear out the adults to be certain of their identity.

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 whitish-yellow, head pale brown (British leafminers).

Yellow, head light brown (Borkowski, 1972b); Gustafsson and van Nieukerken (1990a) give a detailed description (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 illustrated in UKMoths. The species is included in mothdissection.co.uk.

Hosts in Great Britain and Ireland:

Fagaceae
Quercus				British leafminers
Quercus				UKMoths
Quercus	petraea	Sessile Oak		Pitkin & Plant
Quercus	robur	Pedunculate Oak		Pitkin & Plant

Hosts elsewhere:

Fagaceae
Quercus	cerris	Turkey Oak		Bladmineerders van Europa
Quercus	petraea	Sessile Oak		Bladmineerders van Europa
Quercus	pubescens	Downy Oak		Bladmineerders van Europa
Quercus	robur	Pedunculate Oak		Bladmineerders van Europa

Time of year - larvae: June - July, September - October (British leafminers).

Time of year - adults: On the wing from May to June and in July and August (UKMoths).

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: The commonest of a complex of similar species which have oak as a foodplant (UKMoths) recorded in Anglesey, Banffshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Caernarvonshire, Cambridgeshire, Carmarthenshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, East Kent, East Norfolk, East Suffolk, East Sutherland, Easterness, Elgin, Glamorgan, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Isle of Wight, Kincardineshire, Mid-west Yorkshire, Middlesex, North Devon, North Essex, North Hampshire, North Somerset, North Wiltshire, North-west Yorkshire, Shropshire, South Aberdeenshire, South Essex, South Hampshire, South Lancashire, South Wiltshire, South-east Yorkshire, Stafford, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Kent, West Lancashire, West Norfolk, West Suffolk, Westmorland 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, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Greek mainland, Hungary, Italian mainland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Russia - Central, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands and Ukraine (Fauna Europaea).

NBN Atlas links to known host species:

British and Irish Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere: