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Leaf-miner: Early mines are spiral galleries; later forms pale blotches, sometimes having moved to a different leaf (British leafminers).

Egg at the upperside of the leaf, not near the midrib. The larva starts by making a long, narrow, full depth corridor that is strongly spiraled or even lies in intestine-like loops. Frass as fine grains, distributed, later in a central line. After a while a new mine is made, either a continuation of the corridor or, more often, in a new leaf. This new mine begins as a narrow corridor but soon widens into a large blotch; here the fass lies in a broad band. The larva lies venter-upwards in the mine. Pupation external (Bladmineerders van Europa).

The mine is also illustrated in UKMoths.

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).

Whitish; head light brown; prothoracic and anal shield yellowish brown (Koster, 2002b; Koster and Sinev, 2003a) (Bladmineerders van Europa).

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

Pupation in a cocoon, on a leaf or in leaf-litter (British leafminers). See also See Patočka and Turčáni (2005a) (Bladmineerders van Europa).

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

Hosts in Great Britain and Ireland:

Onagraceae
Circaea	lutetiana	Enchanter's-nightshade		Pitkin & Plant
Circaea	lutetiana	Enchanter's-nightshade		British leafminers
Circaea	lutetiana	Enchanter's-nightshade		UKMoths
Epilobium	montanum	Broad-leaved Willowherb		Rob Edmunds (pers. com.)

Hosts elsewhere:

Onagraceae
Circaea	alpina	Alpine Enchanter's-nightshade		Bladmineerders van Europa
Circaea	lutetiana	Enchanter's-nightshade		Belgian Lepidoptera
Circaea	lutetiana	Enchanter's-nightshade		Bladmineerders van Europa

Time of year - larvae: August-September (British leafminers; UKMoths).

Time of year - adults: A single generation flies in July and August but is not easy to locate as an adult (UKMoths).

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: A relatively local species occurring in England and Wales, less common in the eastern counties (UKMoths) including Breconshire, Buckinghamshire, Carmarthenshire, Cheshire, Dorset, Durham, East Cornwall, East Gloucestershire, Glamorgan, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Isle of Wight, Leicestershire, North Essex, North Hampshire, North Somerset, Pembrokeshire, Shropshire, South Devon, South Hampshire, South Northumberland, South-west Yorkshire, Stafford, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Cornwall, West Gloucestershire, West Lancashire, 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, Balearic Is., Belgium, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spanish mainland, Sweden, Switzerland and The Netherlands (Fauna Europaea).

NBN Atlas links to known host species:

British and Irish Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere: