Gracillariidae

15.0715 Medick Leaf-miner Phyllonorycter medicaginella (Gerasimov, 1930)

pRDB

Similar species:

Forewing: 2.5 to 3mm

Habitats: Wasteground, roadsides, river banks and other disturbed ground.

Habits: The moth has gradually spread across Europe from southern Russia. It was added to the British list in 2020?

Foodplant: The larva forms an underside mine covering most of a leaf of White Mellilot or occasionally Black Medick. The leaves are heavily mined with sometimes two thirds of the leaflets on a branch being inhabited. The leaf margins curve downwards due to the contraction of the mine and the leaflet has several longitudinal folds on the underside. The upper surface takes on a whitish appearance due to most of the green tissue being eaten.. The frass is concentrated in a corner of the mine. The full-fed larva pupates in a loose spinning in the mine where it overwinters.

On mainland Europe the larvae have also been recorded from Sickle Medick, Lucerne, Bur Medick, Common Melilot and Medicago dentata.