Food Plant: Carex riparia (Greater Pond sedge) ; occasionally C.acutiformis (Lesser Pond sedge)

Egg: laid on a leaf

Mine: March-May

Notes: Initially forms a short mine with diverticula then swaps leaves and forms a long, thin whitish or brown gallery mine, upwards or downwards within a leaf. It may change leaves. Pupates within a white cocoon in a leaf just above the water level. Has a southerly distribution in the UK being found in wet areas such as swamps and riverbanks. The small overwintering mine appearsas a brownish smudge on Greater Pond Sedge in the field in early spring, here growing on the edge of a small pond.

Gelechiidae Recording Scheme: link

National Status: pRDB1

Bradley No: 744

Data: 27.iii.2022, Wolvercote Green, Oxon., VC23

Image:© Will Langdon

References:
Emmet AM & Langmaid JR (2002) -The Moths and Butterflies of Great Briatin and Ireland 4(2) Gelechiidae
Gregersen K & Karsholt O (2022) - The Gelechiidae of North-West Europe
Langmaid JR, Plamer SM & Young MR (2018) -A Field guide to the Smaller Moths of Great Britain and Ireland