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 mine on Helichtotrichon pratense in early spring. The oldest section of the mine is visible on the right and is discoloured brown on the top of the leaf, and reddish on the base (as often happens on this host). This larva mined one more leaf before pupating.

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

Image:© Will Langdon