Food Plant: Phyllitis scolopendrium (Hart's-tongue Fern), Asplenium (Spleenwort), Ceterach (Rustyback), Cyrtomium fortunei (Fortune's crytomium) and Polypodium interjectum (Cornish Polypody)

Mine: August - June

Notes: Mines the frond at first, then feeding in sporangia in the spring. The larva (as shown) has a black head and prothoracic plate along with a dark anal plate - this distiguishes it from P.filicivora, which has a light brown head and prothoracic markings and no anal plate. Later spins a case from empty sporangia. Most common on Phyllitis. Has a westerly distibution in England and Wales

Data: 15.xi.2018, Claverton, Bath, Somerset, VC6

Image:© Paul Wilkins