Food Plant: Eriophorum angustifolium (Cotton-grass)

Mine: September-May

Notes: Mines the stem and lower leaf in the autumn, then overwinters in the mine. In Spring the leaf is mined, initially in the reddish basal part then into the green part of the leaf. The mine is from 20-65mm long. The mine is hidden and frass filled. It then pupates in a cocoon in detritus or in the leaf. The habitat is damp moors, fens and salt marshes. A mine in the field on Cotton Grass is shown , visible as a broad reddish suffusion at the base of the right hand leaf of the focal plant (circled). Most of the mine is below the surface of the sphagnum moss in which the plant is growing. The same mine is then shown backlit from two different angles on the left, with the larva fainly visible in the clearer red area near the top. Adults reared and larvae DNA barcoded to confirm ID.

Data: 07.i.2022, Westhay Moor, Somerset, VC6

Image:© Will Langdon