Food Plant: Picea abies (Norway Spruce)

Egg: Laid on a twig

Mine: July-April

Notes: Mines a shoot and overwinters as a small larva before resuming feeding in the spring. Makes a small hole close to the shoot tip, usually on the underside of the shoot, before pupation. Mining activity causes the leaves to discolour and then fall off. The mined twig, with exuviae, are shown.

Data: 29.iv.2023, Dulverton, South Somerset, VC5

Image:© George Tordoff