Phyllonorycter sorbi

Wingspan 7 to 9 mm. The forewing colour is golden brown but is often suffused with blackish on the outer half. The white markings are well defined and partially bordered blackish.

Adult Leafmine

Leafmine occurs on Rowan, Bird Cherry and Whitebeam. http://www.leafmines.co.uk/html/Lepidoptera/P.sorbi.htm

Where Sorbus species -(especially Rowan) are present.

It flies in April and May and again in August.

The larva feeds in a leaf-mine, which is wrinkled on the underside and curved into a tube on the upper surface. The whole leaflet is often strongly contorted. The most usual foodplant is Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia), but it is sometimes found on Bird-cherry (Prunus padus) and other species of Sorbus including Swedish Whitebeam (Sorbus intermedia).

Distributed throughout the British Isles, this species is generally commoner in the northern half. In the Butterfly Conservation's Microlepidoptera Report 2011 this species was classified as common.

It appears to be uncommon in Leicestershire and Rutland, where there are few records. L&R Moth Group status = D (rare or rarely recorded).