Food Plant: Cistus x florentinus (Rock-rose), C. x obtusifolius ('Thrive' Rock-rose)

Egg: laid under a leaf and sealed with frass

Mine: February - September (mines found in September. Adults in August and September)

Notes: Initially forms an irregular sided broad mine, with a darker centre due to frass deposition. The larvae are solitary within the mine. The larva is shown; the bottom photo showing the anal plate on the final instar larva. It then leaves this mine, when mature, and makes a new one in the shape of a channel over the leaf midrib, slightly wider than the larva and with a distinct opening, in which it pupates. Newly discovered at a few sites in the London area (Konoplin et al (2022)).

Data: 22.ii.2026, London, Middlesex, VC21 (top photo); 01.iii.2026 (bottom photo)

Image:© Ben Smart