Leaf-mine: The larva are often gregarious and feeds on the underside of the leaf causing a 'windowing' effect as they eat the mesophyll and lower epidermis. This effect can be seen from the top of the leaf as it discolours (British leafminers).

Short, small, irregular, sometimes widened corridor. Mostly a number in a leaf, concentrated in the axils of the midrib and the primary side veins. Each larva makes a number of mines. Often the larva protrudes with its rear end out of the mine, causing most frass to be ejected. While moving, at the leaf underside, silken threads are produced, in wich grains of frass may be trapped. Older larvae live free and cause window feeding, often in a group under a light spinning (Bladmineerders van Europa).

The mine is also illustrated in UKMoths.

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

Pupa: The pupa is illustrated in British leafminers, UKMoths and Bladmineerders van Europa.

Adult: The adult is illustrated in UKMoths by Andy Mackay. The male and female genitalia are illustrated by the Lepidoptera Dissection Group.

Hosts in Britain:

Hosts elsewhere:

Time of year - larvae: May-June; August-September (British leafminers).

Time of year - adults: Two or three generations, with the last generation overwintering as an adult (UKMoths).

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Rather common throughout the British Isles (UKMoths) including Anglesey, Banff, Bedfordshire, Caernarvonshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Denbighshire, Derbyshire, Dorset, East Gloucestershire, East Norfolk, East Ross, East Suffolk, East Sussex, Easterness, Edinburgh, Elgin, Flintshire, Glamorgan, Herefordshire, Kincardine, Linlithgow, North Aberdeen, North Ebudes, North Essex, North Hampshire, North Somerset, North Wiltshire, Pembrokeshire, Shropshire, South Aberdeen, South Devon, South Lancaster, South Wiltshire, Stafford, Surrey, West Cornwall, West Gloucestershire, West Kent, West Norfolk, West Suffolk 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).

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, Belarus, Belgium, Corsica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Greek mainland, Hungary, Italian mainland, Kaliningrad Region, Latvia, Lithuania, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Romania, Russia - Central, East, North, Northwest and South, Sardinia, Slovakia, Spanish mainland, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands and Ukraine (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.