Leaf-mine: Tufted hair-grass and blue moor-grass are the main foodplants, the larvae forming gallery mines (UKMoths).

Gradually widening corridor, running either upwards or down. All frass is deposited in the earliest part of the mine. Often 2-3 larvae in a mine; in grasses with broad leaves sometimes more than one mine in a leaf (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Larva: The larva is described in 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.

Comments: Festuca gigantea is treated as Schedonorus gigantea (Giant Fescue) by Stace (2010).

Hosts in Britain:

Hosts elsewhere:

Time of year - larvae: The larva of the first generation hibernates in the mine and makes a new mine in early spring. Larvae from October to end-May, and mid-June to end-July (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Time of year - adults: There are two generations flying from May to July and again in August (UKMoths).

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Occurs in woodland habitats in England, Wales and locally in Ireland (UKMoths); Bedfordshire and North Wiltshire (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 the 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, Belgium, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, European Turkey, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Hungary, Italian mainland, Latvia, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Romania, Russia - Central, North and Northwest, Slovakia, Spanish mainland, Sweden and Switzerland (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:

Belgian Lepidoptera
Biodiversity Heritage Library
Bladmineerders van Europa
British leafminers
Encyclopedia of Life
Fauna Europaea
NBN Gateway
UKMoths