Head white; forewing ground colour silvery white, sometimes darkened with very light ochreous scales; the dorsal half of the apical area often darkened with greyish brown scales; 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 three dark brown hooks depart into the cilia.

A long winding coridor on the upperside of a leaf. The frass is concentrated in a very narrow central frassline; the mine itself has a yellowish appearance, distinguishing it from the other Phyllocnistis mines.
See also gracillariidae.net and bladmineerders.be.

No real cocoon, but a flimsy spinning which is not pure white as in most other Phyllocnistis species, but greenish or yellowish.

The eggs are oviposited mainly on the upperside of the leaf.
Pupation under a flimsy membrane at the end of the corridor at a margin of a leaf, which is turned over the membrane.
The adults are active at dusk. Probably, the species hibernates in the adult stage.

The caterpillar lives on different species of narrow-leaved Salix trees, like Salix alba, S. babylonica, S. fragilis and S. triandra.