Leaf-mine: The larva mines young leaves and the narrow initial mine ends in a blotch. The larva cuts out a section of the leaf and over winters in this on the ground (British leafminers).

Long, very narrow corridor that may wind several times through the leaf, freely crossing the midrib. The corridor often cuts off parts of the leaf, that die as a result. The corridor does not increase in width, until it abruptly widens into an irregular elongate blotch. In the end of the blotch an oval excision is made, c. 4 mm long, in which the larva drops to the ground for pupation. Mines in the very youngest leaves (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Larva: The larva is illustrated in British leafminers and Bladmineerders van Europa.

Pupa: Details unknown.

Adult: The adult is illustrated in UKMoths by Jon Baker. 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: July - August (British leafminers).

Time of year - adults: The adults fly in May and June, and can sometimes be found in daylight around birches on heaths. It is also attracted to light (UKMoths).

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Distributed throughout the British Isles (UKMoths) including (UKMoths) including Banff, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Denbighshire, Derbyshire, East Cornwall, East Kent, East Ross, East Suffolk, East Sutherland, Easterness, Elgin, Flintshire, Glamorgan, Isle Of Wight, Kincardine, Linlithgow, Merionethshire, Mid-west Yorkshire, Montgomeryshire, North Aberdeen, North Devon, North Essex, North Somerset, North Wiltshire, Shropshire, South Aberdeen, South Devon, South Lancaster, South Wiltshire, Stafford, Surrey, 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) 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, Belgium, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, ? Luxembourg, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Russia - Central, North and Northwest, 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.