Forewing ground colour unicolorous brown, sometimes with a purplish tinge in the apical area. Some specimens also show some dark brown dots.

Whitish with pale brown head; pronotum without black spots.

The first instars make a narrow serpentine mine on the underside of the leaf. Later on, they continue with a brownish blotch, most of the time in the corner between two leaf veins. Rarely also upperside mines occur. Frass is deposited in a corner of the mine. In later instars the free living caterpillar leaves its mine and constructs two consecutive leaf rolls, the first one a short roll or just a tipped-over leaf edge, the second time a larger roll downwards turned and starting from the leaf tip occupying in many cases the whole leaf.
See also gracillariidae.net and bladmineerders.be.

A transparant, shining, greenish white cocoon at the underside of a leaf, most of the time situated near the leaf edge.

The larvae prefer young trees or just sapplings where they mine the leaves. After the mining stadium, the later instars leave the mine and construct two consecutive leaf rolls, the first one a short roll or just a tipped-over leaf edge, the second time a larger roll turned downwards and starting from the leaf tip occupying in many cases the whole leaf. The exuvium protrudes from the mine after the emergence of the adult. The adults hibernate.

Monophagous on Betula.