Elachistidae

38.023 Twin-spot Sedge-miner Elachista biatomella (Stainton, 1848)

Notable B

Similar species:

Forewing: 3.25 to 4.5mm

Habitats: Open grassland and heaths.

Habits:

Foodplant: The larva forms a narrow ascending gallery with a thin line of frass from the leaf base of Glaucous Sedge or sometimes Sand Sedge. When the mine is 20 to 30mm long the direction reverses to form an elongate, slightly puckered, whitish inflated blotch with dispersed frass. The larva is a yellowish and the head dark brown with a light brown prothoracic plate. It pupates in the axis of a lower leaf petiole.

On the European mainland it has also been recorded feeding on Acute Tufted-sedge.