Leaf-mine: The larva forms a blotch mine on the underside of a leaf, often quite small, but puckering the leaf noticeably (UKMoths).

The mine is 10-15 mm long, 1-6 creases in lower epidermis (British leafminers).

Small lower surface tentiform mine; the lower epidermis is greenish yellow and weakly folded. Pupation within the mine in a cocoon that in the summer generation is so flimsy that sometimes it seems to be missing, while in the autumn generation it is quite tough. All frass in a corner of the mine (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Larva: Whtish, with an orange-yellow spot dorsally on the sixth abdominal segment. See Grandi (1931a, 1933a) for a description of the morphology (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Phyllonorycter ulmifoliella pupa, cremaster, dorsal Image: Willem Ellis (Bladmineerders van Europa)

Pupa: The pupa is illustrated in Bladmineerders van Europa.

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: July, September - October (British leafminers; UKMoths).

Time of year - adults: Two generations, with adults flying in May and again in August (UKMoths).

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: This species can be found almost anywhere where the foodplant, birch (Betula) is present. Common throughout the British Isles (UKMoths) including Anglesey, Banff, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Caernarvonshire, Cambridgeshire, Carmarthenshire, Cheshire, Denbighshire, Derbyshire, East Cornwall, East Kent, East Norfolk, East Ross, East Suffolk, East Sutherland, Easterness, Elgin, Flintshire, Glamorgan, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Kincardine, Merionethshire, Mid-west Yorkshire, Middlesex, Monmouthshire, North Aberdeen, North Ebudes, North Essex, North Hampshire, North Somerset, North Wiltshire, Northamptonshire, Shropshire, South Aberdeen, South Devon, South Essex, South Hampshire, South Lancaster, South Wiltshire, Stafford, Surrey, West Gloucestershire, West Kent, West Lancaster, West Norfolk, West Suffolk and Westmorland (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, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland, French mainland, 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 recorded 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: