Leaf-mine: The mine is in the upper epidermis of a leaf, usually over midrib or vein. The mine is at first silvery, later with brown speckling (British leafminers).

Silvery, upper-surface, epidermal tentiform mine, centered over the midrib or a heavy lateral vein. Unlike P. leucographella, with which this species shares some host plants, the upper epidermis looks dirty by the presence of numerous fine black-brown specks of frass. The epidermis remains without folds until the mine becomes strongly contrated. Young mines look like a streak of silver on top of a vein (Bladmineerders van Europa).

The mine is also illustrated in UKMoths.

Larva: Young larvae are quite variegated, because they have a black spot on each segment, which has almost completely disappeared in the full grown larva. See Grandi (1931a, 1933a) and Olivella (2008a) for a decription of the larva. The larva is illustrated in Bladmineerders van Europa.

Pupa: The pupa is illustrated in Bladmineerders van Europa.

Adult: The adult is illustrated in UKMoths. The genitalia are not illustrated by the Lepidoptera Dissection Group (check for update).

Hosts in Britain:

Hosts elsewhere:

Time of year - larvae: July, September - October (British leafminers; UKMoths).

Time of year - adults: Adults are at large in May and again in August (UKMoths).

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Widely, but thinly scattered throughout the British Isles (UKMoths) including Anglesey, Bedfordshire, Brecon, Caernarvonshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Denbighshire, Derbyshire, East Gloucestershire, East Kent, East Norfolk, East Suffolk, East Sussex, Easterness, Flintshire, Glamorgan, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Merionethshire, Middlesex, Montgomeryshire, North Aberdeen, North Devon, North Ebudes, North Essex, North Hampshire, North Somerset, North Wiltshire, Shropshire, South Aberdeen, South Essex, South Wiltshire, South-west Yorkshire, Stafford, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Gloucestershire, West Kent, West Lancaster, West Norfolk, West Suffolk, West Sussex, 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). In recent years it seems to have decreased in numbers, at least in the north (UKMoths). 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, Croatia, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Dodecanese Is., Estonia, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Greek mainland, Hungary, Italian mainland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Republic of Moldova, North Aegean Is., Norwegian mainland, Poland, Portuguese mainland, Romania, Russia Central, North, Northwest and South, Sardinia, Sicily, Slovakia, Spanish mainland, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Ukraine. Also recorded in Near East (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: