Food Plant: Quercus (Oak), Carpinus (Hornbeam), Fagus (Beech), Castanea (Sweet Chestnut). Ostrya carpinfolia (Hop-hornbeam), Nothofagus obliqua (Roble Beech), occasionally Tilia (Lime) or Betula papyrifera (Paper Birch)

Mine: March - April, July, October

Notes: The mine is oval on Q. ilex (Holm Oak), and similar to P. quercifoliella on deciduous oaks. It is between adjacent veins on beech and hornbeam.The puparium is held loosely in a flimsy cocoon and the frass edging the cocoon is in a distinct U or V shape. A mine on Hornbeam. An adult was reared to confirm the identification and separate the mine from P. tenerella. Backlighting here reveals the distinctive u-shaped cocoon of frass around the pupa that P. tenerella lacks, instead having its pupa in a brown silken cocoon with the frass piled at the end of the mine.

Data: 11.x.2023, Oxford University Botanic Gardens, Oxfordshire, VC23

Image:© Will Langdon