Head orange-brown, forewing ground color evenly brown, three white striae at the costa and 2 very small striae near the apex; inner margin with a white dot at the base and two striae, in the middle of the inner margin, the other at 2/3.

Yellowish green with dark brown head capsule.

At first a very small, inconspicuous gallery, mostly but not exclusively at the upperside of the leaf. Later instars make a semicircular or oval blotch mine, sometimes partly or completely covering this gallery. The blotch is greyish white at the beginning but soon turns into orange-brown, except when it is an underside mine where the original color is kept.
See also gracillariidae.net and bladmineerders.be.

Only the first instar keeps its frass in the narrow gallery, but the following instars eject the frass from the blotch mine. The free-living caterpillar turns a leaf edge downwards and spins it into a fold under which the larvae feed. Usually, two such folds are made during the entire life cycle.
Pupation in a folded leaf edge among leaf litter.
Hibernation in the pupal stage.
Adults hide among the foliage during daytime. They are not very active but come to light.

The caterpillars feed mainly on Malus, both wild species and many cultivars. Mines have also occasionally been recorded from other Rosaceae species, like: Pyrus, Crataegus and Cotoneaster.

Old orchards and gardens with apple trees.