Leaf-mine: The first instar larva tends to make a U-shaped mine, whereas later larvae make irregular mines. Final instar larvae spin the leaves together and feed in a silken tube amongst the seeds (British leafminers).

Young larvae make a short, spiralled corridor typically U-shaped). This stage is followed by an irregular, sometimes branching, greenish-white blotch. In their final stage the larva lives free in a silken tunnel among the leaves (Bladmineerders van Europa).

The mine is also illustrated in UKMoths.

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

Scrobipalpa nitentella larva, dorsal Image: Willem Ellis (Bladmineerders van Europa)

Pupa: Pupation in a cocoon of sand grains and detritus (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 - October (British leafminers).

Time of year - adults: July and August (UKMoths).

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: One of the commonest gelechid moths on saltings in the British Isles (UKMoths) including Anglesey, Caernarvonshire, Denbighshire, East Ross, East Suffolk, Glamorgan, Kincardine, Monmouthshire, North Aberdeen, North Essex, North Somerset, South Aberdeen, Surrey 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). It can easily be confused with several other Scrobipalpa species, so examination of the genitalia is usually necessary, though even then they can be difficult to determine (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, Belgium, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Romania, Russia - South, Slovakia, Spanish mainland, Sweden, The Netherlands and Ukraine (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.