larva mining the leaves initially and then living inside a rolled
leaf in later instars (UKMoths).
mine starts with an unconspicuous epidermal corridor, mainly visible
by a reddish brown frass line. During the following larval stage
a blotch is formed, that quickly develops into a tentiform mine;
the epidermis is brown. Generally the mine is lower-surface, but
upper-surface mines are not rare. Frass in a mass of grains in a
corner of the mine. After having left its mine the larva moves twice.
First it lives in a rolled (sometimes just folded) leaf margin,
after that in a leaf that is transverely rolled downwards, starting
from the leaf tip (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).
Whitish with pale brown head; pronotum without black spots (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, strongly shining, parchment-like cocoon that
is fixed with silk to the leaf margin (Bladmineerders van Europa).
The adult is illustrated in UKMoths and the Encyclopedia
of Life. The male
genitalia are illustrated by the Lepidoptera Dissection Group.
Hosts in Great Britain & Ireland:
of year - larvae: May, July (British
of year - adults: Two generations. June and July and then September
and October. The second brood overwinters as an adult and often
reappears in the early spring (UKMoths).
in Great Britain & Ireland: Britain including Leicester (Pickworth Woods) (UKMoths);
Bedfordshire (VC30), Caernarvonshire (VC49), Cheshire (VC58), Denbighshire (VC50), East Kent (VC15),
East Norfolk (VC27), East Ross (VC106), East Suffolk (VC25), East Sutherland (VC107), Easterness (VC96),
Elgin, Glamorganshire (VC41), Herefordshire (VC36), Kincardineshire (VC91), Merionethshire (VC48), North Aberdeenshire (VC93), North Devon (VC4), North Essex (VC19), North Hampshire (VC12), North Somerset (VC6),
South Northumberland (VC67), Nottinghamshire (VC56), Shropshire (VC40), South Aberdeenshire (VC92),
South Devon (VC3), South Hampshire (VC11), South Lancashire (VC59), South Wiltshire (VC8),
South-west Yorkshire (VC63), Staffordshire (VC39), Surrey (VC17), Warwickshire (VC38), West Gloucestershire (VC34),
West Kent (VC16), West Norfolk (VC28), West Ross, West Suffolk (VC26), Westmorland (VC69) and
Worcestershire (VC37) (NBN
Gateway). See also British
leafminers distribution map.
recorded in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland
(Karsholt and van Nieukerken in Fauna Europaea). See also Ireland's NBDC interactive map.
NBN Grid Map:
NBN Grid Map : NBN Terms and Conditions
Maps are only displayed if the NBN server is active. N.B. Only publicly available records, if any, are shown by default
elsewhere: Widespread in continental Europe including Austria,
Belgium, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland, French
mainland, Germany, Latvia, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Russia -
Central, North and Northwest, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland and
The Netherlands (Karsholt and van Nieukerken in Fauna Europaea).
NBN Interactive Grid Maps of known host species:
British and Irish Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere:
|Sympiesis dolichogaster Ashmead, 1888
|Apanteles xanthostigma (Haliday, 1834)
|Dolichogenidea dilecta (Haliday, 1834)
|Rhysipolis decorator (Haliday, 1836)
|Rhysipolis meditator (Haliday, 1836)
|Diadegma stigmatellae Horstmann, 1980
|Bathythrix prominens (Strobl 1901)
|Diaglyptidea conformis (Gmelin, 1790)
|Gelis areator (Panzer, 1804)
|Gelis fuscicornis (Retzius, 1783)
|Itoplectis aterrima Jussila, 1965
|Scambus inanis (Schrank, 1802)