Leaf-mine: Common reed and similar plants are the larval foodplant. The larva of this species has a peculiar habit of cutting part of a leaf to act as a raft, using this to float on the water to a new foodplant when necessary (UKMoths).

Narrow, whitish, rather inflated corridor, sometimes several tens of centimeters long, running towards the leaf sheath. Frass in coarse grains, in a distinct central line. Now and then the larva makes a elongate case from leaf material and uses it to float to another hostplant. The case may stick for some time to the new host. The larva pupates in a stem, after having made an exit hole and closed it with silk (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Larva: Greyish green; head black, prothoracic shield black, divided. Thoracic feet with an antero-mesal globular structure (Neunzig, 1987a) (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Pupa: Details unknown.

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

Hosts in Britain:

Hosts elsewhere:

Time of year - larvae: June; larva overwinters (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Time of year - adults: June and July and usually encountered at light (UKMoths).

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Southern half of Britain, inhabiting marshy areas, ditches and similar habitats (UKMoths). including Bedfordshire, Caernarvonshire, Cambridgeshire, Carmarthenshire, Cheshire, Denbighshire, Derbyshire, East Kent, East Norfolk, East Suffolk, East Sussex, Glamorgan, Huntingdonshire, North Essex, North Hampshire, North Somerset, North Wiltshire, Shropshire, South Essex, South Hampshire, South Somerset, Stafford, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Cornwall, West Gloucestershire, West Kent, West Norfolk, West Suffolk, West Sussex, Westmorland 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) and Channel Is. (Karsholt and van Nieukerken in Fauna Europaea).

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, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Corsica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Greek mainland, Hungary, Italian mainland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Romania, Russia - Central and South, Slovakia, Spanish mainland, Sweden, Switzerland and The Netherlands (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.