Leaf-mine: An unusually long, narrow, whitish linear mine, frequently following a vein. Numerous larvae can occur together in a single leaf which can be completely eaten out. Pupation external (Spencer, 1972: 74 (fig. 247); Spencer, 1976: 438, 439 (fig. 766)).

Long, little widening corridor. The first part is contorted, and its very first stretch is lower-surface; all other parts are upper-surface. The lower-surface part is visible as a light patch when illuminated from behind. The corridor often looks rather angular, because it tends to follow a vein over a considerable distance. Frass in rather large, well-spaced grains, often deposited at the same side of the corridor for a considerable lenghth. Often several mines in leaf, that may seem white then when seen from a distance. Pupation outside the mine; exit slit in upper epidermis (Bladmineerders van Europa).

A very long, white, upper surface gallery which follows the veins and can appear angular because of this. Usually several in one leaf (British leafminers).

Larva: The larva is described by Sasakawa (1961) and Dempewolf (2001: 194). The larva is illustrated in Bladmineerders van Europa.

Puparium: Black; posterior spiracles each with an irregular ellipse of 20-28 bulbs (Spencer, 1976: 438).

Hosts in Britain:

Hosts elsewhere:

Time of year - mines: June-October.

Time of year - adults: Unknown.

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Widespread and common throughout British Isles (Spencer, 1972: 79) including Hampshire (Fleet), Northampton (British leafminers), Warwickshire (Brandon Wood) (Robbins, 1991: 119-120); Cambridgeshire, East Gloucestershire, East Sussex, Haddington, Herefordshire, North-west Yorkshire, Shropshire, South-west Yorkshire, Surrey, West Gloucestershire and Worcestershire (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).

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: Common in much of Europe including Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden (Spencer, 1976: 438), The Netherlands, Luxembourg (Bladmineerders van Europa), Belgium (de Bruyn and von Tschirnhaus, 1991), Germany (Spencer, 1976: 574; Dempewolf, 2001: 194), Czech Republic and Poland (Martinex, 2004 in Fauna Europaea).

Range extending eastwards to Kazakhastan, Uzbekistan and the Kirghiz Republics of the [former] U.S.S.R. (Spencer, 1976: 438).

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

Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere: