Leaf-mine: The larva creates a narrow gallery containing black or brownish frass, and subsequently one or more shorter mines or windows (UKMoths).

At first a long, narrow, corridor with brown or black frass in a central line; the mine may be upper- or lower-surface of even interparenchymatous, and often enters the cortex of the stem. After some time this mine is vacated and the larva starts making several short full depth blotches. Some larvae keep this habit until short before pupation, others soon begin window-feeding (Bladmineerders van Europa).

The mine is also illustrated in British leafminers.

Larva: The larva is illustrated in UKMoths and by Emmet (1985a) (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Pupa: The larva pupates in a white ribbed cocoon and is illustrated in UKMoths.

Adult: The adult is illustrated in UKMoths. The male genitalia, but not the female genitalia (check for update), are illustrated by the Lepidoptera Dissection Group.

Hosts in Britain:

Hosts elsewhere:

Time of year - larvae: April - May and July - August (British leafminers).

Time of year - adults: June and August (UKMoths).

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: A relatively common species around the coastal saltings of England and Wales, though probably overlooked as an adult due to its size (UKMoths); Caernarvonshire, Cheshire, Denbighshire, Dorset, East Norfolk, East Suffolk, Flintshire, Glamorgan, Merionethshire, Monmouthshire, North Essex and Westmorland (NBN Gateway, includes Watsonian Vice Counties having records that fall within or overlap the vice county border at 10km resolution or better) and Northern Ireland (Karsholt and van Nieukerken in Fauna Europaea). See also British leafminers distribution map.

Also recorded in the Republic of Ireland (Karsholt and van Nieukerken in Fauna Europaea).

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 Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Hungary, Italian mainland, Latvia, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Portuguese mainland, Romania, Russia - Central, East, North and Northwest, Slovakia, Sweden, The Netherlands and Ukraine (Karsholt and van Nieukerken 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.