Leaf-mine: A white mine along mid-rib, with offshoots into leaf blade. Pupation internal at base of mid-rib.

In Asteraceae the larva mostly lives as a borer in the midrib of the leaves. From there short corridors are made into the blade. Also a corridor can be made overlying the midrib. In Euphorbia a small mine is made in the bracts of the inflorescence. The final mine strongly resembles the one of Liriomyza strigata, but the branches are vritually free from frass; this is acccumulated in the resting place of the larva, in the base of the midrib. There also pupation takes place (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Forms a mine along the midrib and has feeding spurs into the leaf. Pupation is in the mine at the base of the midrib (British leafminers).

Larva: The larva is described by de Meijere (1943) and illustrated in Bladmineerders van Europa. Antererior spiracles each with 7 bulbs; posterior spiracles each with 10-12 bulbs (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Puparium: Whitish; posterior spiracles on a short stalk, each with 10-12 bulbs. The puparium is illustrated in British leafminers and Bladmineerders van Europa.

Ophiomyia beckeri puparium, dorsal Image: Willem Ellis (Bladmineerders van Europa)

Comments: Leontodon autumnalis is treated as Scorzoneroides autumnalis (Autumn Hawkbit)and Picris echioides is treated as Helminthotheca echioides (Bristly Oxtongue) by Stace (2010).

Hosts in Britain:

Hosts elsewhere:

Time of year - mines: July-August.

Time of year - adults: May.

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Widespread in south but not common. Kent (Sandwich), Essex (Thames Marshes), Oxfordshire (Bagley Wood), Dorest (Portland Studland), Somerset (Berrow), Glamorgan (Portcawl) (Spencer, 1972: 60); Warwickshire (Coventry) (Robbins, 1991: 123); Cambridgeshire and Glamorgan (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 Ireland (Spencer, 1972: 60).

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: Widespread in continental Europe including Denmark, Finland (Spencer, 1976: 60), The Netherlands (Bladmineerders van Europa), Belgium (Scheirs, de Bruyn and von Tschirnhaus, 1995), Austria, Balearic Is., Canary Is., Czech Republic, Germany, Lithuania, Madeira, Poland, Sicily, Spanish mainland and Yugoslavia (Martinez in Fauna Europaea).

Also recorded in South Africa and India (Spencer, 1976: 60).

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

Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere: Unknown.