Leaf-mine: The larva mines a number of leaves from their base upwards. The larva hibernates in a hibernaculum in the heart of the plant; pupation outside the mine (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Larva: Head and prothoracic shield shining dark brown; body yellowish white with broad irregular length lines (UKMoths) (Bladmineerders van Europa).

The red stripes on 5 mm larvae usually fade as they grow (UKMoths).

Pupa: Pupae in June and July, and sometimes August, are attached to the plant (UKMoths).

Adult: The adult is illustrated in UKMoths. The male and female genitalia are ilustrated by the Lepidoptera Dissection Group.

Hosts in Britain:

Hosts elsewhere:

Time of year - larvae: From late August the young larvae unobtrusively mine leaves and stems of the foodplant. Leaf mines are largest and most easily detected in the following April, but larvae are most obvious in May and early June when they feed externally on the leaves and flowers of Mossy saxifrage (UKMoths).

Time of year - adults: June and July, with a small second generation in late August and early September in some years (UKMoths).

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Locally common in gardens on both sides of the Pennines and in southern Scotland (UKMoths) including Mid-west Yorkshire, Stafford, West Lancaster 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).

Also recorded in the Burren, Co. Clare, Ireland (UKMoths).

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: Continental Europe including French mainland and Italian mainland (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.