Last modified: March 15, 2021, 12:34 p.m.
A very rare and local species in Belgium.
Native
Small species, forewing ground colour golden brown with white pattern of striae. Very much alike Phyllonorycter ulmifoliella, also living on Betula species, but the ground colour in P. anderidae is more reddish and the pattern shows more contrast.
Yellowish green with brown head capsule.
Small tentiform mine on the underside of the leaf, about 1 cm long, the leaf is a little lighter green where the mine is present.
See also gracillariidae.net and bladmineerders.be.
No cocoon constructed.
The egg is deposited on the underside of the leaf.
Pupation within the mine without construction of a cocoon. The species hibernates in the pupal stage.
Two generations a year: April–May and August.
The caterpillar preferably lives on Betula pubescens, but it has also been recorded from Betula nana.
The species is bound to humid, open places with seedlings of Betula pubescens.