Food Plant: Ilex aquifolium (Holly), I crenata (Japanese Holly)

Mine: December-April

Notes: Forms an initial thin gallery which may become a blotch. The frass forms a narrow line in the gallery. Pupariation is beneath the leaf and the long bifid anterior spiracles project through the epidermis (those of Phytomyza ilicis are much shorter, more closely spaced and not bifid). First discovered in Belgium on I crenata (Dek & van Steenwinkel, 2018). The mines were found on young seedlings with 2-6 leaves. Also known from the Netherlands. Mines shown on Ilex aquifolium.

Data: 20.iii.2018, prov. Antw., Meerhout, Belgium

Image:© Carina van Steenwinkel