Food Plant: Prunella vulgaris (Self-Heal)

Egg: on the upperside of a leaf

Mine: July-October

Notes: The leaves are stained purple as the larva mines. It usually mines two or three leaves, via the petiole and stem. The mines are long, with linear frass and irregular margins. The larva is pale yellow and long and slender.

National Status: pRDB2

Bradley No: 44

Data: 19.vii.2019, Pegsdon Hills NR, Bedfordshire, VC30, M G Banthorpe

Image:© A M Banthorpe

References:
Heath, J (1983), The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland, 1, Micropterigidae - Heliozelidae
Hering, E M (1957) - Bestimmungstabellen der Blattminen von Europa
Johansson, R, Nielsen, E S, van Nieurkerken, E J and Gustafsson, B (1990) - The Nepticulidae and Opostegidae (Lepidoptera) of North West Europe
Langmaid J R, Palmer S M, Young M R (2018), A Field Guide to the Smaller Moths of Great Britain and Ireland