Acrolepia autumnitella

Wingspan 11-13 mm. A small inconspicuous species with brown wings that have a white patterning.  The larva mines the leaves of Bittersweet or occasionally Deadly Nightshade.

Adult Leafmine

Various habitats especially those supporting the larval foodplant Bittersweet.

The adults generally emerge in two generations, firstly in July and then in October - the second brood overwintering in this stage which probably accounts for any early sightings.

The larvae mine the leaves of Bittersweet or occasionally Deadly Nightshade forming large whitish or translucent blotches. The pupa is formed in a cocoon fashioned from a network of silk.

Distributed mainly in the southern half of England with a few scattered records further north, although it is probably overlooked. In the Butterfly Conservation’s Microlepidoptera Report 2011 this species was classified as common.

Increasingly well recorded in Leicestershire and Rutland area, especially from the leafmines on Bittersweet.

http://www.leafmines.co.uk/html/Lepidoptera/A.autumnitella.htm

https://bladmineerders.nl/parasites/animalia/arthropoda/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/yponomeutoidea/glyphipterigidae/acrolepiinae/acrolepia/acrolepia-autumnitella/