Ectoedemia intimella

Wingspan about 6 mm.  The adult is mostly blackish with a slight purple sheen and an obvious white or creamy blotch. The head is orange or yellowish.

Adult Leafmine

Adults: Determination by Genitalia Examination (gen. det.) Required.  

Leafmine: Good photograph required preferably backlit to show frass within the mine and larva if present.  Please also state the host species.

Areas where the host willows occur, especially Goat Willow (Salix caprea).

Adults are on the wing in June, in a single generation. Leafmines may be found between July and November.

The larvae mine the leaves of sallow (Salix), especially S. caprea, initially galling the leaf petiole before moving to the the midrib of the leaf. Subsequently it mines into the leaf-blade, and tends to form a fairly distinctive blotch which often contains two lines of frass. 

In the Butterfly Conservation's Microlepidoptera Report 2011 this species was classified as local.

Not frequently recorded in Leicestershire and Rutland, although it may be overlooked.