Leaf-mine: A small narrow mine on a wide variety of grasses. In the spring the larva changes leaves and mines tip downwards. The mine fills the leaf width. The frass is packed in the top of the mine (British leafminers).

In autumn the larva makes a narrow corridor a few cm in length, in which it hibernates. In March it moves to a new leaf. Here a transparent, full depth mine is made that descends from the leaf tip, and occupies the entire width of the blade. Most frass is concentrated in the oldest, highest, part of the mine. The larva may leave its mine and restart elsewhere. Pupation outside the mine (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Larva: Grey green with a faint white dorsal line. Head pale brown; prothoracic shield brown, consisting of 4+4 small plates (Bland, 1996a) (Bladmineerders van Europa). The larva is illustrated in British leafminers.

Pupa: The pupa is illustrated in British leafminers.

Adult: The adult is illustrated in UKMoths and the Encylopedia of Life. The male and female genitalia are illustrated bt the Lepidoptera Dissection Group.

Hosts in Britain:

Hosts elsewhere:

Time of year - larvae: Autumn - Spring (British leafminers).

Time of year - adults: The adults are on the wing mostly in June and July, and fly from evening onwards, being attracted to light after darkness (UKMoths).

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Common throughout Britain (UKMoths) including Anglesey, Banff, Bedfordshire, Brecon, Buckinghamshire, Caernarvonshire, Cambridgeshire, Carmarthenshire, Cheshire, Cheviotland, Cumberland, Denbighshire, Derbyshire, East Cornwall, East Gloucestershire, East Norfolk, East Ross, East Suffolk, Easterness, Elgin, Glamorgan, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Kincardine, Mid-west Yorkshire, Middlesex, North Aberdeen, North Ebudes, North Essex, North Somerset, North Wiltshire, Northumberland South, Pembrokeshire, Radnorshire, Shropshire, South Aberdeen, South Devon, South Essex, South Lancaster, South Wiltshire, Stafford, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Cornwall, West Gloucestershire, West Kent, West Lancaster, West Norfolk, West Suffolk and Westmorland (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), the Channel Is. and Northern Ireland (Karsholt and van Nieukerken in Fauna Europaea). See also British leafminers distribution map. It occurs in grassy habitats (UKMoths).

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, Croatia, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Hungary, Italian mainland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Portuguese mainland, Romania, Russia - Central, Slovakia, Spanish mainland, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands and Yugoslavia (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.