Leaf-mine: A regular greenish inter-parenchymal blotch mine, frequently delimited by two veins, appearing somewhat mottled as a result of small deeper areas of feeding through the upper parenchyma (Spencer, 1972: 78 (fig. 259); Spencer, 1976: 428, 429 (fig. 748).

The mine starts with a quite inconspicuous lower-surface corridor that soon changes into an extensive interparenchymatous blotch. The upper cell layer of the palisade parenchyma is eaten away in many places, giving the mine in transparency a perforated appearance. Fresh mines are pale green, later they turn brown; they give the leaves a strikingly diseased impression. Feeding lines absent, frass grains strikingly few. Larvae solitary. Pupation outside the mine, exit slit in lower epidermis (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Forms a blotch mine between two veins, having a characteristic sieve-like appearance (where the larva has fed through the upper parenchyma) . Pupation outside the mine. (British leafminers).

Larva: The larva is described Griffiths (1973c), de Meijere (1937) and illustrated in Bladmineerders van Europa.

Puparium: Black; posterior spiracles each with 14-20 bulbs (Spencer, 1976: 428). The puparium is illustrated in Bladmineerders van Europa.

Phytomyza heracleana puparium Image: Willem Ellis (Bladmineerders van Europa)

Comments: Hering (1957a) includes Angelica and Seseli as host plants, but Griffiths (1973c) and Spencer (1973a) regard these records as doubtful. The species can only be distinguished from related species by characters of the male genitalia.

Hosts in Britain:

Hosts elsewhere:

Time of year - mines: June-August.

Time of year - adults: Unknown.

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Widespread in Britain including Cornwall (Portleven), Derby (Miller's Dale), Denbighshire (Cefn-y-bedd), Perth (Killin) (Spencer, 1972: 80), Inner Hebrides (Isle of Coll) (Bland, 1992), Warwickshire (Astley) (Robbins, 1991: 67); Cambridgeshire, Linlithgow, Mid-west Yorkshire, North-west Yorkshire, South-west Yorkshire and Surrey (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 (Burren), Co. Cork (Bantry) and Co. Kilkenny (Kilkenny) (Spencer, 1972: 80).

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, Norway, Sweden (Spencer, 1976: 428), The Netherlands (Bladmineerders van Europa), Germany (Spencer, 1976: 570), Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, French mainland, Hungary, Italian mainland, Lithuania and Poland (Martinez in Fauna Europaea).

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

Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere: Unknown.