Phyllonorycter acerifoliella

Wingspan about 8 mm. One of three similar Acer-feeding species Phyllonorycter acerifoliella larva mines the leaves of Field Maple. The mine is tentiform and nearly always at the leaf edge or leaf tip, folding the leaf over. Occasionally it can be found on the leaf blade.

Adult Leafmine

Larval stage: Photograph the underside of the mine, not host species in comments

In any area where Field Maple is found.

The adults emerge in two generations, in May and again in August

The larva feeds on Field Maple and folds the tip of a leaf lobe downwards to create a distinctive and easy-to find mine. Occasionally the mine is not on the leaf edge, but forms a crease in the leaf.  Leaf mines can be located during July and more commonly in September and October.

The species is distributed over much of England where the food plant is natively established. It is slowly expanding northwards into areas where the tree is introduced. In the Butterfly Conservation’s Microlepidoptera Report 2011 this species was classified as common.

Uncommon in our area. Paucity of records suggests that this moth is not as common in Leicestershire and Rutland as it is nationally. L&R Moth Group status = D (rare or rarely recorded)

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

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