Phyllonorycter comparella

Wingspan about 8 mm. The adults have quite extensive whitish ground colour, marked with greyish-brown. The larva makes a mine on the underside of leaves of Grey Poplar (Populus canescens), White Poplar (P. alba) and occasionally hybrid Black Poplar.

The mines are small and hard to find on the commonest hosts, Grey or White Poplar; there is little contraction or distortion of the leaf, and the underneath of the mine is hidden in the woolly undersurface of the leaf.

Adult  Leafmine

Adult needs to be confirmed by gen det unless reared from a mine.  

Leafmine records should be supported by photograph and the host plant should be recorded in the ‘Comments’ section.

Areas where the foodplants (Poplar species) occur.

Mines can be found in July and again in September and October. Adults occur in August and again from October, when they overwinter.

A relatively scarce species, being found locally in England. In the Butterfly Conservation's Microlepidoptera Report 2011 this species was classified as Nationally Scarce A.

Rarely recorded in Leicestershire and Rutland.

http://www.leafmines.co.uk/html/Lepidoptera/P.comparella.htm

https://bladmineerders.nl/parasites/animalia/arthropoda/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/gracillarioidea/gracillariidae/lithocolletinae/phyllonorycter/phyllonorycter-comparella/