Food Plant: a wide variety of grasses

Egg: near the tip of the leaf

Mine: autumn - May

Notes: It makes a small narrow mine in the autumn and overwinters. In the spring it changes leaves and mines tip downwards. The mine fills the leaf width.. The frass is packed in the top of the mine (as shown). Imago reared to confirm identity. A larva mining Helichtotrichon pratense in spring, this is the second leaf it mined before pupating. The frass is piled at the top of the mine as is typical for mature mines of this species.

Data: 20.iii.2023, Aston Rowant NNR, Oxfordshire, VC23

Image:© Will Langdon