Stigmella obliquella

Wingspan 4 to 5 mm.

Adult Leafmine

Leafmine occurs on various smooth leaved willows. http://www.leafmines.co.uk/html/Lepidoptera/S.obliquella.htm

Where smooth-leaved willows occur.

The adult moths emerge in two generations: in May and August.

The eggs of this species are laid on either side of the leaves of one of the smooth-leaved willows. The yellow larvae emerge in June and September and create a narrow mine, often parallel to the rib of the leaf.

The moth is widely distributed, but not particularly common in most of Britain. In the Butterfly Conservation's Microlepidoptera Report 2011 this species was classified as local.

Increasingly well recorded in Leicestershire and Rutland in recent years, particularly from the leafmines on Willow