Food Plant: Erigeron acris (Blue Fleabane)

Egg: laid on a flower

Mine: September-May

Notes: The larva feeds initially on the seeds in a case which is well hidden in the pappus. The case is trivalved, blackish, 5-6mm long with pappus hairs sometimes incorporated . The larva is fully fed in October and then enters diapause. Found in dry thin grasslands, waste ground and raodside verges. Can be locally common in Southern England. Larvae feed concealed within the seedhead of Erigeron acris, giving little external indication of their presence. One is just visible in this photo as a slightly darker area in the bottom left of the centre of this seedhead (circled in red).

Data: 01.ix.2022, Aston Rowant NNR, Oxfordshire, VC23

Image:© Will Langdon