Leaf-mine: Larva feeds mainly in the leaf sheaths. The short mines which may be formed in the leaf blade may be easily overlooked. Pupation internal (Spencer, 1976: 178).

Mine begins as a narrow, usually upper-surface, occasionally lower-surface or interparenchymatous corridor in the blade, that descends towards the ligule, thence continues into the leaf sheath, generally on its inside. Usually only one mine per leaf. Puparium in a pupal chamber at the margin of the leaf sheath. Neither mine nor larva can be distinguished from that of C. fulvipes that, as far as is known, only feeds on Poa trivialis (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Larva: The larva is described by Venturi (1946), Sasakawa (1961), Nowakowski (1973), Dempewolf (2001: 120) and Darvas, Skuhravá and Andersen (2000).

Puparium: Details unknown.

Comments: Festuca gigantea is treated as Schedonorus gigantea (Giant Fescue) and Festuca pratensis is treated as Schedonorus pratensis (Meadow Fescue) by Stace (2010).

Hosts in Britain:

Hosts elsewhere:

Time of year - mines: June-September, sometimes October (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Time of year - adults: June.

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Widespread from the south to Scotland, most northerly record Outer Hebrides (Lewis: Melbost) (Spencer, 1972: 107), most southerly record Channel Is. (Martinez in Fauna Europaea); Brecon, Caernarvonshire, Cambridgeshire, Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire, Cumberland, East Gloucestershire, East Suffolk, East Sussex, Easterness, Glamorgan, Huntingdonshire, Middlesex, Monmouthshire, North Essex, North Hampshire, North Somerset, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Pembrokeshire, Shropshire, South Aberdeen, South Devon, South Lancaster, South Wiltshire, Stafford, West Cornwall, West Gloucestershire, West Kent, West Lancaster, West Suffolk, West Sussex, Westmorland and Worcester (NBN Gateway - N.B. includes Watsonian Vice Counties having publicly available records that fall within or overlap the vice county border at 10km resolution or better i.e. a record for a vice county may relate to an adjacent vice county - for included datasets see NBN Grid map below).

Also recorded in the Republic of Ireland: Co. Clare and Co. Mayo (Spencer, 1972: 107).

NBN Grid map: Note that not all datasets on the NBN Gateway may be available on the map below. If you are an NBN Gateway registered user you can request access for missing datasets via the link 'Open interactive map in new window' below.

Distribution elsewhere: Very common in Europe including Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Sicily (Spencer, 1976: 178), The Netherlands (Bladmineerders van Europa), Belgium (de Bruyn and von Tschirnhaus, 1991), Germany (Spencer, 1976: 550; Dempewolf, 2001: 120), Austria, Bulgaria, Canary Is., Czech Republic, Greek mainland, Hungary, Lithuania, Madeira, Poland, Slovakia, Spanish mainland, Switzerland and Yugoslavia (Martinez in Fauna Europaea).

Also recorded in north Africa (Morocco) and Japan (Spencer, 1976: 178).

NBN interactive distribution map(s) of known host species in Great Britain and Ireland and elsewhere:

Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere: Unknown.

Biodiversity Heritage Library
Bladmineerders van Europa
British leafminers
Encyclopedia of Life
Fauna Europaea [128388]
NBN Gateway