Mines of Incurvaria masculella Image: Rob Edmunds (British leafminers)

Leaf-mine: The larvae mine leaves at first, forming a blotch mine, later descending to the ground in a portable case and feeding on dead leaves (UKMoths).

Oviposition is by way of an ovipositor, therefore no egg shell visible. The larva makes a small, roundish, blotch; often several in a leaf. Already after its first moult it makes an excision out of the mine, in size almost equal to the blotch (3-4 mm). Thus sandwiched it drops to the ground and continues feeding on dead leaf material (Bladmineerders van Europa).

The mine is also illustrated in British leafminers.

Larva: Mining Incurvaria-larvae, while resting, take a horse-shoe like posture, unlike the larvae of Antispila species (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Pupa: Details unknown.

Adult: The adult is illustrated in UKMoths and the Encyclopedia of Life. The female genitalia, but not the male genitalia (check for update), are illustrated by the Lepidoptera Dissection Group. The ovipositor comb of masculella is illustrated in British leafminers alongside pectinea and oehlmanniella.

Hosts in Britain:

Hosts elsewhere:

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

Time of year - adults: May (UKMoths).

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Fairly common moth over most of Britain (UKMoths) including Anglesey, Banff, Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Brecon, Buckinghamshire, Caernarvonshire, Cambridgeshire, Cardiganshire, Cheshire, Cumberland, Denbighshire, Derbyshire, East Cornwall, East Gloucestershire, East Kent, East Norfolk, East Suffolk, East Sussex, East Sutherland, Flintshire, Glamorgan, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Kincardine, Leicestershire, Merionethshire, Middlesex, North Essex, North Hampshire, North Somerset, North Wiltshire, North-west Yorkshire, Shropshire, South Aberdeen, South Devon, South Lancaster, South Wiltshire, Stafford, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Gloucestershire, West Kent, 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) the Channel Is. and Northern Ireland (Karsholt and van Nieukerken in Fauna Europaea).

Also recorded in Republic of Ireland (UKMoths; Karsholt and van Nieukerken in Fauna Europaea).

NBN Grid map:

Distribution elsewhere: Widespread in continental Europe including Albania, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Corsica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, European Turkey, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Greek mainland, Hungary, Italian mainland, Kaliningrad Region, ? Luxembourg, Macedonia, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Portuguese mainland, Romania, Russia - East and Northwest, 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.