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), Polypodium hesperium (Western Polypody), Polypodium interjectum (Intermediate Polypody), Polypodium vulgare sl (Common Polypody), Woodwardia radicans (Chain fern)

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 has a pale brown head and prothoracic plate (which has a dark posterior edge) - this distinguishes it from P.verhuella which has a black head and prothoracic plate along with a dark anal plate. A comparison between the larvae is seen here.

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

Image:© Ben Smart