Leaf-mine: The lower surface of the mine can have small creases and appear reddish (British leafminers).

Lower surface oval tentiform mine, without a fixed position on the leaf. The mine is yellowish, sometimes tinged with red; black when old. Frass stacked in one corner of the mine, the almost black pupa, in a very flimsy cocoon, in the other (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Larva: The larva is illustrated in Bladmineerders van Europa.

Phyllonorycter sagitella larva, dorsal Image: Willem Ellis (Bladmineerders van Europa)

Pupa: The cremaster is illustrated in British leafminers. The pupa is illustrated in Bladmineerders van Europa.

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

Hosts in Britain:

Hosts elsewhere:

Time of year - larvae: June; August-October (British leafminers).

Time of year - adults: Unknown.

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: A rare miner in the UK, discovered in 1977 in Gloucestershire (British leafminers) and subsequently recorded from Caernarvonshire, Cheshire, Denbighshire, Flintshire 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 Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Hungary, Italian mainland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Romania, Russia - Central, East, North, Northwest and South, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands and Ukraine. Also present in East Palaearctic and 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: Unknown.