Leaf-mine: The mine begins with a narrow gallery following the midrib or a vein, and then becoming a rectangular blotch with frass gathered towards one end (UKMoths).

Oviposition on the upperside of the leaf, next to a vein. The first part of the mine is a narrow corridor, with a broad frass line, running along a vein. Usually the corridor runs away from the midrib, but often it runs along the midrib itself. The corridor widens abruptly into a squarish blotch, containing much frass. Often several mines in a leaf. Pupation external (Bladmineerders van Europa).

The mine is also illustrated in Belgian Lepidoptera.

Larva: White with green gut-line, head pale brown (British leafminers). The larva is yellowish white with a light brown hread; ganglia inconspicuous; ventral plates present but indistinct (van Nieukerken, 1985a). See Gustafsson and van Nieukerken (1990a) for a description of the larva (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Ectoedemia albifasciella larva, dorsal Image: Willem Ellis (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: August - October (British leafminers).

Time of year - adults: The adult moths are on the wing in June (UKMoths).

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Distributed throughout England and Wales and into the southern half of Scotland, it is more localised in the north, but can be common elsewhere (UKMoths) including Banff, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, East Cornwall, East Kent, East Norfolk, East Ross, East Suffolk, East Sutherland, Elgin, Glamorgan, Herefordshire, Huntingdonshire, Kincardine, Leicestershire, Middlesex, North Aberdeen, North Devon, North Essex, North Hampshire, North Somerset, North Wiltshire, Northamptonshire, Shropshire, South Aberdeen, South Lancaster, South Wiltshire, South-west Yorkshire, Stafford, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Kent, West Lancaster, West Norfolk, West Ross, West Suffolk, 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). 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, ? Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Greek mainland, Hungary, Italian mainland, Latvia, Lithuania, ? Macedonia, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Portuguese mainland, Romania, Russia - Central and South, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spanish mainland, Sweden, Switzerland, 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.