Last modified: Dec. 14, 2024, 4:45 p.m.
A widespread and locally common species in Belgium.
Native
Head white; forewing ground colour faintly golden ochreous; white pattern consisting of a broad and long basal streak, reaching till beyond the middle of the wing; four costal and two dorsal striae, finely edged with ochreous or brown scales basally; a small patch of black scales in the apical area.
A narrow, elongated, tentiform mine on the underside of a leaf, situated between two secondary veins; one strong, central longitudinal fold, greenish in the earliest stages, brown later on. The last instar applies so much spinning that the mine is contorted into a tube. The dark frass is concentrated either in a corner of the mine or at its sides.
See also gracillariidae.net and bladmineerders.be.
Not a real cocoon, but some flimsy spinning, most of the time close to the main vein.
The species hibernates in the pupal stage, between leaf litter on the ground. After emergence of the adult, the pupal skin protrudes through the mine.
Two generations a year in May and July–August.
The species is monophagous on Carpinus betulus. It has, however, also been recorded from Ostrya carpinifolia which is sometimes planted in gardens and parks as an ornamental plant.
Parks, forest edges.