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Leaf-miner: The mine in Luzula pilosa is rarely at the leaf-tip, being usually about halfway down the leaf blade and well clear of the winter/pring dieback. The autumn mine typically consists of a long stright slended gallery folloowing one of the veims. The mine is no wider than the larva and the frass is scattered towards or away from the leaf-tip. In spring the mine is contined as a broad elongated gallery with frass irregularly placed. Pupation occurs on the upper surface of a leaf and is anchored by a silk girdle (Bland and Knill-Jones, 1988).

From autumn till early spring the larva makes a quite narrow corridor with a total length of 12-16 cm, essentually running parallel to the leaf venation; the corridor may change direction 2-3 times. Generally the corridor lies about halfway the length of the leaf. In March-April this gallery abruptly gives way to an elongate blotch, that generally obliterates the original gallery. The larva may leave its mine and restart elsewhere by making a lower-surface opening in a new leaf, not far from the leaf-tip. 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).

The larva has a black head and prothoracic plates with a pink body and narrow creamy nid-dorsal line and a more diffuse creamy line along the spiracles. The intensity of the pink varies considerably (Bland and Knill-Jones, 1988).

Body more or less intensely pink, with three cream-coloured length lines; head and prothoracic plate black (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Pupa: The pupae of moths have visible head appendages, wings and legs which lie in sheaths (see examples).

See Patocka (1999a), Patocka and Turcáni (2005a) (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Adult: The adult is illustrated in UKMoths. The species is included in mothdissection.co.uk.

Hosts in Great Britain and Ireland:

Juncaceae
Luzula	pilosa	Hairy Wood-rush		Pitkin & Plant (as Biselachista)
Luzula	sylvatica	Great Wood-rush		Pitkin & Plant (as Biselachista)

Hosts elsewhere:

Juncaceae
Luzula	luzuloides	White Wood-rush		Bladmineerders van Europa
Luzula	pilosa	Hairy Wood-rush		Bladmineerders van Europa
Luzula	sylvatica	Great Wood-rush		Bladmineerders van Europa

Time of year - larvae: Autumn to April-June of the following year (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Time of year - adults: Currently unknown.

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Britain including Dorset, Dumfriesshire, Dunbartonshire, Durham, East Norfolk, East Ross, Forfar, Haddington, Kincardineshire, North Devon, South Devon, South Wiltshire and Stirling (NBN Atlas).

Also recorded in the Republic of Ireland (Fauna Europaea and National Biodiversity Data Centre Map).

Distribution elsewhere: Widespread in continental Europe including Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Italian mainland, Latvia, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland (Fauna Europaea).

NBN Atlas links to known host species:

British and Irish Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere:

Belgian Lepidoptera
Biodiversity Heritage Library
Bladmineerders van Europa
British leafminers
Encyclopedia of Life
Fauna Europaea
NBN Atlas
NHM UK Checklist, as Biselachista trapeziella
UKMoths