Phylloporia bistrigella

A very small (Wingspan c.8 mm) dark, but distinctively patterned moth.  It is easily overlooked due to its very small size, and is most likely to be recorded from its larval leafmine on Birch (see ‘Life History’ below)

Adult Leafmine  

Good photographs are required when recording this species at any life stage.

This species can sometimes be found in daylight around birches. It is also attracted to light.

The adults fly in May and June. 

The larvae feed on Betula species. They mine the leaves of their host plant, usually encircling a good part of the leaf, and finishing in a whitish blotch with scattered frass. It then cuts out an oval case from this position and drops to the ground. The leaf area enclosed within the mine becomes paler and vacated mines are quite distinctive.

Locally distributed throughout the British Isles. In the Butterfly Conservation's Microlepidoptera Report 2011 this species was classified as local.

Rarely recorded in Leicestershire and Rutland.

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

https://bladmineerders.nl/parasites/animalia/arthropoda/insecta/lepidoptera/monotrysia/adeloidea/heliozelidae/phylloporia/phylloporia-bistrigella/