Seed/Shoot feeder: Larva feeds in the flower heads of composites and other plants drawing together the petals to form a shelter and eating out the immature seeds; also on young shoots drawing together the terminal leaves and eating out the heart (Bradley et al., 1973).

Larva: Head and prothoracic plate light brown or yellowish brown, head with a black lateral marking; abdomen light yellow, sometimes pale greenish grey dorsally, translucent; pinacula small, black; peritreme of spiracles black; anal plate yelowish brown, marked with black; anal comb black; thoracic legs yellowish; terminal segments brownish (Bradley et al., 1973).

Pupa: Blackish brown (Bradley et al., 1973).

Adult: The adult is illustrated in UKMoths by Helen Bartock. The male and female genitaila are illustrated by the Lepidoptera Dissection Group.

Hosts in Britain:

Hosts elsewhere: Unknown.

Time of year - larvae: June (Bradley et al., 1973).

Time of year - adults: July (Bradley et al., 1973).

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Britain including Caernarvonshire, Cambridgeshire, Cardiganshire, Derbyshire, East Cornwall, East Norfolk, East Suffolk, Glamorgan, Kincardine, Merionethshire, North Aberdeen, North Wiltshire, Pembrokeshire, South Devon, South Lancaster, South Wiltshire, Stafford, West Cornwall, West Gloucestershire, West Norfolk, West Suffolk and Westmorland (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 (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 west Europe including French mainland, Italian mainland, Portuguese mainland and Spanish mainland (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.