Leaf-mine: The larva mines from the grass tip downwards and the mine occupies half or the whole of the leaf blade width. A whitish blotch is formed with characteristic narrow streaks of frass (British leafminers).

Full depth blotch, slightly inflated, descending from the leaf tip, occupying half or the entire width of the blade. The larva may move and make a new mine elsewhere. In the latter case the mines are fairly short; otherwise an entire blade may be mined out. Frass in a some narrow greyish brown streaks. Pupation outside the mine (Bladmineerders van Europa).

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

Pupa: The pupa is illustrated in UKMoths.

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: September - May (British leafminers).

Time of year - adults: The adults fly in a single generation during June and July (UKMoths).

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: A common miner of grasslands throughout the UK (British leafminers; UKMoths) including Anglesey, Banff, Bedfordshire, Caernarvonshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Denbighshire, Derbyshire, East Cornwall, East Kent, East Norfolk, East Suffolk, Easterness, Elgin, Flintshire, Glamorgan, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Kincardine, Merionethshire, Mid-west Yorkshire, North Aberdeen, North Ebudes, North Hampshire, North Somerset, North Wiltshire, Pembrokeshire, Shropshire, South Aberdeen, South Devon, South Hampshire, South Lancaster, South Wiltshire, Stafford, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Cornwall, 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) and Northern Ireland (Karsholt and van Nieukerken in Fauna Europaea). 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, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland, French mainland, Italian mainland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Romania, Russia - Central, East, North and Northwest, Slovakia, 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.