Stigmella sorbi

Adult Stigmella are very difficult to identify and this species is best recorded as a leafmine on Rowan, or bred through, the adults are relatively large and often paler than many other Nepticulidae, with pale brownish wings and a broad, poorly defined creamy fascia.  The mine is a narrow gallery soon becoming a large round blotch with scattered frass, and these are very obvious, often several to a compound leaf.

Adult Leafmine please state the host species (i.e. usually Rowan)

Adults can only be reliably recorded when bred from leafmines on Rowan.  If recording the leafmine please supply a backlit image and state the host species (i.e. usually Rowan).

Where Rowan occurs.

One of the earlier leafminers to be found in the larval stage, the mines appearing from June and into July, mainly on Rowan. Adults are on the wing in May.

The species is commonest in the north of England and Scotland, and is more localised in southern England and Ireland. In the Butterfly Conservation's Microlepidoptera Report 2011 this species was classified as common.

Infrequently recorded in Leicestershire and Rutland.