Leaf-mine: Mines downwards from leaf tip to stem. Makes a long narrow yellowish mine. May be up to four larvae in one leaf (British leafminers).

Long narrow yellowish corridor, descending from the leaf tip to its base; at times 3-4 larvae in a leaf. Often several larvae in a communal mine. Pupation outside the mine (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Larva: Body yellowish; head and prothoracic shield pale brown; prothoracic shield divided (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 arundinacea is treated as Schedonorus arundinacea (Tall Fescue) by Stace (2010).

Hosts in Britain:

Hosts elsewhere:

Time of year - larvae: February-May; June-July (British leafminers).

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

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Distributed mainly in southern England and south Wales (UKMoths) including Bedfordshire, Berkshire, East Gloucestershire, East Suffolk, Glamorgan, North Essex, North Somerset, South Devon, South Wiltshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire (NBN Gateway, as Cosmiotes stabilella - 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).

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 Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Germany, Hungary, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Portuguese mainland, Romania, Slovakia, Spanish mainland, 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.

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