Stigmella suberivora

Wingspan about 6 mm. The adults are dark grey/blackish with a faint purplish tinge and a yellow head.

Leaf mine on Holm Oak and related evergreen oaks have a wide gallery, usually along leaf-edge before turning towards midrib.  There is a broad band of frass in the middle, leaving clear margins.

It can look very similar to Ectoedemia heringella mines on Holm Oak.

Adult Leafmine

Provide clear backlit images showing frass pattern.

Areas where Holm Oak is present.

May to July and August to September.

The eggs are laid on the upper surface of the leaves of Holm Oak, and the yellow larva creates a fairly broad mine almost filled with frass. A bivoltine species with larvae mining leaves during mid-summer and again during the winter-spring period.

It is found mainly in southern England but apparently rather local. In the Butterfly Conservation's Microlepidoptera Report 2011 this species was classified as local.

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

http://www.leafmines.co.uk/html/Lepidoptera/S.suberivora.htm

https://bladmineerders.nl/parasites/animalia/arthropoda/insecta/lepidoptera/monotrysia/nepticuloidea/nepticulidae/stigmella/stigmella-suberivora/