UKMoths Please note that the NBN Gateway map service has been terminated as of 1 April 2017.
As soon as a replacement map service is available, distribution maps will hopefully appear here again.
In the meantime, you can get some idea of distribution from the NBN Atlas website.
4.087 BF36
Ectoedemia quinquella
(Bedell, 1848)
Wingspan c. 6mm.
This is quite a local species, distributed mostly in the south-east of England.
The larvae mine the leaves of oak (Quercus), particularly Q. robur, and create a twisted gallery on the underside of the leaves, which sometimes combines to resemble a blotch. The feeding causes a 'green island' in the autumn leaves as they turn brown, and mines can often be found in fallen leaves as a result.
Adults are quite distinctively 'black and white' with three white patches on each wing, and a whitish fringe to the rear edge of the thorax. The head is usually blackish or dark brown, and the eycaps white.
Mines can be located in October and November, often many to a single leaf, with larvae still active in fallen leaves, and the moths are on the wing in June and July.
See also:
Leafmine (British Leaf Mining Fauna)
Leafmine (De bladmineerders van Nederland)
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