Food Plant: Acer pseudoplatanus (Sycamore)

Egg: laid on the wing of a samara in June, whereas in late summer it is laid on a bud, which develops next spring.

Mine: Sept-May; July

Notes: In the spring the larvae eat out a flower bud, whereas the summer generation are said to eat the seeds in a samara. The mined wings of a samara are very rarely seen (due to being high up in the tree? (Robbins, 1989)). The mine is shown in the samara (to the right of the seed). Mostly this species is encountered as an adult. Formerly Ectoedemia decentella.

National Status: Nationally Scarce B

Bradley No: 20

Data: 04.viii.2020, Lower Stondon, Bedfordshire, VC30 Andy & Melissa Banthorpe

Image:© Melissa Banthorpe

References:
Heath, J, 1983, The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 1
Hering, M, 1957, Bestimmungstabellen der Blattminen von Europa
Langmaid, JR, Palmer, SM & Young, MR, 2018, A Field Guide to the Smaller Moths of Great Britain and Ireland
Robbins,J, 1989, A Provisional Atlas of the Leaf Miners of Warwickshire