Mines of Paraswammerdamia albicapitella on Prunus spinosa Image: David Manning (British leafminers)

Leaf-mine: The short full depth corridor mine is made in the leaf in September and the larva then hibernates on the axil of the leaf, making a web and feeding the next spring (British leafminers). In the spring they feed on the leaves from within a silk web (UKMoths).

The larvae make a small full depth corridor in autumn. They pass the winter in a hiberaculum outside the mine, later they live free in a spinning (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Larva: Free-living larva- Body slender, reddish brown; head light brown; prothoracic plate dark brown. Laterally a bright white, broad but to the rear quickly narrowing length line on thorax of foremost abdomen segments. A similar dorsal line, but narrower and shorter, begins behind the head (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Pupa: Pupation on a twig in a cocoon (British leafminers).

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

Hosts in Britain:

Hosts elsewhere:

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

Time of year - adults: The adults can be found on the wing in July and are attracted to light (UKMoths).

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Throughout England, Wales and southern Scotland (UKMoths) including Anglesey, Bedfordshire, Caernarvonshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, East Cornwall, East Gloucestershire, East Kent, East Norfolk, East Suffolk, Glamorgan, Hertfordshire, Middlesex, North Essex, North Somerset, North Wiltshire, Pembrokeshire, Shropshire, South Wiltshire, Stafford, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Cornwall, West Gloucestershire, West Lancaster, 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, Belgium, Bulgaria, Corsica, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland, French mainland, Greek mainland, Italian mainland, Luxembourg, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Romania, Sardinia, 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.