Last modified: Feb. 28, 2021, 12:26 p.m.
A fairly common species in Belgium, with most observations in the northern part of the country, much rarer in the south.
Native
Head white; forewing ground colour silvery white, a little darker with yellowish hue in the apical area; five ochreous to brown costal striae of which the second one is prolonged to the dorsum, thus forming a narrow transversal band; a black spot in the apical area from which two dark brown hooks depart into the cilia, forming a horizontal "V". Not separable with certainty from the adult of Phyllocnistis labyrinthella.
Yellowish green with light brown head capsule.
A very long, winding corridor on the upperside of a leaf, never on the underside, and the mine never crosses itself. Sometimes, the mine occupies the entire leaf surface. The frass is concentrated in a continuous central, rather broad and dark green frass, distinguising it from the narrow, and almost black frassline in Phyllocnistis labyrinthella.
See also gracillariidae.net and bladmineerders.be.
No real cocoon, but a flimsy membrane; pupa yellowish brown.
The eggs are oviposited on the upperside of a leaf.
No real cocoon, but a flimsy membrane at the leaf margin; the leaf margin folds over the membrane. Pupation under the membrane.
The adults are active at dusk. The species hibernates in the adult stage.
The adults fly in two generations a year: in July and again from late August–September, hibernating till May.
The species lives mainly on Populus alba, bit it has also been recorded from Populus canescens.