Food Plant: Polystichum setiferum (Soft shield-fern), Dryopteris filix-mas (Male-fern), Phyllitis scolopendrium (Hart's tongue), Asplenium adiantum-nigrum (Black spleenwort) , A.trichomanes (Maidenhair spleenwort)

Mine: throughout the year

Notes: P. filicivora appears to be continuously brooded, as larvae have been found in all months of the year. They usually feed on the underside of a fern frond under an untidy mass of sporangia, but on occasion, enter the leaf to make an extensive irregular blotch mine. Initially, filicivora occurred mainly near coasts, but it is increasingly recorded inland.The larva is shown above.

Data: 06.iii.2007, Chorlton,Manchester, VC59

Image:© Ben Smart