Leaf-miner and case-bearer: The larva feeds in a distinctive case made from hairy leaf fragments of the foodplant (UKMoths).

The young larva feeds on the developing seeds and hibernates in its first case which is made of the tip of a petal. After hibernation it makes a hoary, laterally flattened composite leaf case (resembling a willow catkin). Full depth mines are made at the margin of the leaves, that thereby look peculiarly damaged. Mouth angle 70° (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Initially forms a blotch mine, in the centre of a leaf, which it excises for its initial case. In the spring it repeatedly extends its case and it resembles a jagged catkin of willow (British leafminers).

Larva: Head and plates black. Body dull yellowish white; prothoracic plate large with median sulcus; mesothoracic plate consisting of four sclerites, the anterior pair dot-like and widely separared, the posterior pair subrtriangular and closely approximated; metathorax with two small, well-separated dorsal sclerites; thoracic segments with small lateral sclerites; an anal plate; four pairs of abdominal prolegs (Emmet et al., 1996a).

Pupa: Details unknown.

Adult: The adult is illustrated in UKMoths by Keith Tailby. The male and female genitalia are illustrated by the Lepidoptera Dissection Group.

Hosts in Britain:

Hosts elsewhere:

Time of year - larvae: Larvae are full-grown in end May - early June (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Time of year - adults: Adults are on the wing in June and July (UKMoths).

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: An inhabitant of shingle beaches and dry chalky habitats, the recent known distribution of this species is in south-east England and East Anglia, with scattered records elsewhere (UKMoths) including Cambridgeshire, East Kent, East Suffolk, East Sussex, South Wiltshire, West Norfolk and West Suffolk (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).

Found in dry sandy or calacareous soils or on shingle beaches in the UK (British leafminers).

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, Crete, Croatia, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, French mainland, Germany, Hungary, Italian mainland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Poland, Portuguese mainland, Romania, Russia - South, Sicily, Slovakia, Spanish mainland, Sweden, Switzerland and The Netherlands. Also recorded in Near East and North Africa (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.