Leaf-mine: Initially a gallery is made and filled with frass. It is widened abruptly into a blotch, which absorbs the gallery and may occupy the whole leaf. The frass may then be dispersed or heaped in the blotch. A larva may mine more than one leaf before it vacates the mine (UKMoths).

Corridor, densely packed with frass, suddenly widening into a blotch that often occupies the entire width of the leaf, then overrunning the initial corridor. Frass in the blotch disersed or clumped. The larvae can leave the mine and restart elsewhere. Pupation outside the mine (Bladmineerders van Europa).

The mine is also illustrated in British leafminers.

Larva: The larva is illustrated in (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Pupa: Pupation in a silk cocoon among leaf litter (UKMoths; British leafminers).

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.

Hosts in Britain:

Hosts elsewhere:

Time of year - larvae: October-April and June-July (UKMoths; British leafminers).

Time of year - adults: The adults fly in two generations, primarily May-mid June, and mid July-August, but specimens can be found any time from late April to early October. Adults can often be taken in a fine meshed net by day, if the foodplants or nearby low vegetation are disturbed (UKMoths).

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: The distribution of this moth follows that of its foodplants; rockroses (Helianthemum spp.), which are confined to limestone and chalk in southern Britain, but extends onto slightly acid soils in N.E. England and E. Scotland. It is usually a common moth, wherever its foodplants occur (UKMoths), including Anglesey, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Caernarvonshire, Cambridgeshire, Denbighshire, Derbyshire, East Gloucestershire, East Kent, East Suffolk, Glamorgan, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Kincardine, North Hampshire, North Somerset, North Wiltshire, South Aberdeen, South Wiltshire, Stafford, West Gloucestershire, 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). See also British leafminers distribution map.

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 Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Corsica, Crete, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Greek mainland, Hungary, Italian mainland, Latvia, Macedonia, Poland, Portuguese mainland, Romania, Russia - South, Sardinia, Sicily, Slovakia, Slovenia, 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: