Food Plant: Heracleum sphondylium (Hogweed)

Mine: July-April

Notes: Feeds within the seeds and spins several together whilst doing so. When fully fed it leaves the umbel and lives within a cocoon in the soil before pupating the next spring. Liriomyza lutea also feeds within these seeds but the frass is much finer with this agromyzid and the exit hole is also smaller when the larva leaves the seed. The large exit hole caused by the larva of P.aurana is shown.

Data: 14.vii.2023, Downham Market, Norfolk, VC28

Image:© Rob Edmunds