Leaf-mine: The larvae mine the leaves of birch, creating a distinctive mine which begins as a dark circular blotch, and is then extended into a larger pale blotch with a darker central circle. Sometimes several mines are found in one leaf (UKMoths).

Egg usually at the underside of the leaf. The mine is a roundish, often almost circular, primary, upper-surface blotch without a trace of an initial corridor; often several mines in leaf. The mine has a conspicuous dark centre, where the larva often retreats. Young mines consist of only the dark centre, without the light periphery. Also the frass is accumulated here; unlike in Leucoptera malifoliella the frass is not draped in arcs around the centre (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Larva: The larva is illustrated in British leafminers and Bladmineerders van Europa.

Pupa: Details unknown.

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: August - October (British leafminers; UKMoths).

Time of year - adults: There is a single generation, with adults at large from late May to July (UKMoths).

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Distributed commonly throughout mainland Britain (UKMoths) including Anglesey, Bedfordshire, Caernarvonshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Denbighshire, Derbyshire, East Cornwall, East Kent, East Norfolk, East Suffolk, East Sutherland, Glamorgan, Herefordshire, Huntingdonshire, Kincardine, Middlesex, North Aberdeen, North Devon, North Ebudes, North Essex, North Hampshire, North Somerset, North Wiltshire, Shropshire, South Aberdeen, South Devon, South Hampshire, South Lancaster, South Wiltshire, South-west Yorkshire, Stafford, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Gloucestershire, West Kent, West Lancaster, West Norfolk, 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.

Local in Ireland (UKMoths).

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, Corsica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland, French mainland, Hungary, Italian mainland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Romania, Russia - Central, East, North and Northwest, Sicily, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland and The Netherlands. Also recorded in the East Palaearctic (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.