Another leafminer on the move northwards through the UK over the past
few years. It was first recorded in Nottinghamshire by Steve Mathers at
Stanton-on-the-wolds in September 2021 and recent surveys targetting the
moth, quickly proved it to be widespread and already county-wide by
September 2022.
The upper surface mines are easily found on the
leaves of various narrow-leaved Salix sp, especially Crack Willow, with
the larvae also mining the stems as showed in the photographs below. The
adult moth is tiny, with a wing-span of little more than 5.5mm and
smaller than expected. |
