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Leaf-miner: The mine is short, with frass irregular, linear. The larva is yellow, gut-line green, and dark ventral spots. There are often several mines in a leaf. The mines are found frequently on seedlings and small plants (British leafminers).

Egg at the underside of the leaf, close to a vein. The mine is a little widening, rather short, tortuous corridor. The first part does not encircle the egg, neither is it lower-surface.The frass line is one third to one half of the width of the corridor. The sides of the corridor are smooth, not scalloped out. Mostly several mines in a leaf, not infrequently crossing each other. Pupation external, exit slit in the lower epidermis (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Larva: The larvae of moths have a head capsule and chewing mouthparts with opposable mandibles (see video of a gracillarid larva feeding), six thoracic legs and abdominal legs (see examples).

The larva is bright yellow with a yellowish brown head and a brown spot on the prothorax. The ganglia of the ventral nervous system are conspicuous. SCS Brown (1947a) and Gustafsson and van Nieukerken (1990a) give a description of the larva (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Pupa: The pupae of moths have visible head appendages, wings and legs which lie in sheaths (see examples).

Adult: The adult is illustrated in UKMoths. The species is included in mothdissection.co.uk.

Hosts in Great Britain and Ireland:

Betulaceae
Betula				British leafminers
Betula	nana	Dwarf Birch		Pitkin & Plant
Betula	pendula	Silver Birch		Pitkin & Plant
Betula	pubescens			Pitkin & Plant

Hosts elsewhere:

Betulaceae
Betula				Belgian Lepidoptera
Betula	alleghaniensis			Bladmineerders van Europa
Betula	humilis			Bladmineerders van Europa
Betula	maximowicziana			Bladmineerders van Europa
Betula	nana	Dwarf Birch		Bladmineerders van Europa
Betula	pendula	Silver Birch		Bladmineerders van Europa
Betula	pubescens	Downy Birch		Bladmineerders van Europa

Time of year - larvae: July, September - early November (British leafminers).

Time of year - adults: Currently unknown.

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Britain including Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Caernarvonshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Denbighshire, East Kent, East Ross, East Suffolk, East Sussex, East Sutherland, Forfar, Glamorgan, Middlesex, North Aberdeenshire, North Essex, North Hampshire, Shropshire, South Aberdeenshire, South Wiltshire, Stafford, West Suffolk, Westmorland and Worcestershire (NBN Atlas).

See also British leafminers distribution map.

Also recorded in the Republic of Ireland (Fauna Europaea and National Biodiversity Data Centre Map).

Distribution elsewhere: Widespread in continental Europe including Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Hungary, Italian mainland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Romania, Russia - Central, East and Northwest, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Ukraine and Yugoslavia. Also recorded in East Palaearctic (Fauna Europaea).

NBN Atlas links to known host species:

British and Irish Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere: