Elachistidae

38.036 Dusky Grass-miner Elachista humilis Zeller, 1850

Common

Similar species:

Forewing: 4.5 to 5mm

Habitats: Sheltered habitats where the foodplants are present.

Habits:

Foodplant: The larva mines a leaf of Tufted Hair-grass or sometimes Sweet Vernal-grass, Smooth Meadow-grass, Yorkshire Fog, fescues or bents. It forms a short frass filled gallery before overwintering and then in the spring turns the gallery into a white blotch. It may instead move to another leaf and starting at the tip, form a whitish blotch mine the width of the leaf with irregularly scattered frass. This may be repeated in other leaves. The larva is yellow, tinged with green, with a paler dorsal line. The head is pale brown. It pupates at the leaf base or in the leaf litter.

On the European mainland it has also been recorded feeding on Reed Canary-grass.