Leaf-mine: A long, whitish smoothly-curved upper-surface mine with broken black frass (British leafminers).

Oviposition is by means of an ovipositor; what remains is a small scar: no egg shell is visible at the start of the mine. From here a long, sometimes very long, slender, full depth corridor winds throught the leaf, not steered by leaf margin or the leaf venation. The midrib is crossed effortless (see 'special'); the corridor frequently also crosses itself; the section of the leaf cut off then usally turns brown and dies off. Frass in a narrow central line. The larva vacates the mine prior to pupation through an exit in the upper epidermis. The vacated larval chamber is proportionally much longer than in the case of Stigmella mines (> 3 x longer than broad). Pupation takes place in a cocoon that hangs in a 'hammock' in a fold of the leaf (Bladmineerders van Europa).

The mine is also illustrated in UKMoths.

Larva: Deeply segmented (British leafminers). The larva is illustrated in Bladmineerders van Europa.

Pupa: Pupation in a silken cocoon suspended from threads attached to food plant or other vegetation (British leafminers). The cocoon is also illustrated in UKMoths.

Adult: The adult is illustrated in UKMoths and the Encyclopedia of Life. The male genitalia, but not the female genitalia (check for update), are illustrated by the Lepidoptera Dissection Group.

Comments: Mines on Prunus serotina are usually, and those on Prunus laurocarasus practically always abortive (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Possibly in part because of its abundance there are some references to xenophagy: Humulus lupulus and Salix caprea (Klimesch, 1957a; Huber, 1969a); Castanea sativa and Ribes (Hering, 1957a); Quercus (Robbins, 1991a); Rhamnus catharticus (Ellis, 2001a) (Bladmineerders van Europa)

Hosts in Britain:

Hosts elsewhere:

Time of year - larvae: The species has two or more broods, with the later ones overwintering and reappearing in the spring (UKMoths). May; July; September-October (British leafminers).

Time of year - adults: The adults fly at night and are attracted to light (UKMoths).

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Common throughout Britain (UKMoths) including Anglesey, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Caernarvonshire, Cambridgeshire, Carmarthenshire, Cumberland, Derbyshire, East Cornwall, East Gloucestershire, East Kent, East Norfolk, East Suffolk, East Sussex, East Sutherland, Easterness, Edinburgh, Flintshire, Glamorgan, Haddington, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Kincardine, Leicestershire, Linlithgow, Merionethshire, Middlesex, Monmouthshire, North Aberdeen, North Ebudes, North Essex, North Hampshire, North Somerset, North Wiltshire, Shropshire, South Aberdeen, South Devon, South Essex, South Hampshire, South Lancaster, South Wiltshire, Stafford, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Cornwall, West Gloucestershire, West Kent, West Lancaster and West Norfolk (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, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Corsica, Crete, Croatia, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Greek mainland, Hungary, Italian mainland, Kaliningrad Region, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Portuguese mainland, Romania, Russia - Central, East and Northwest, Sardinia, Sicily, Slovakia, Spanish mainland, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Ukraine 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: