Species Details

ABH: 15.025

BF: 301

Family: Gracillariidae

Subfamily: Acrocercopinae

Taxon: Parornix betulae

Authority: (Stainton, 1854)

Vernacular: Birch Parornix

Account: Common on heathland and open woodland throughout much of the British Isles. Very similar to P. loganella, from which separated only by dissection of the genitalia. Imago seldom encountered at light, and more likely to be recorded in the larval stage, when mines are relatively easy to find where they are present. Larva mines leaves of Birch, subsequently living within a leaf-fold, over-wintering as a pupa in a cocoon.

Accounts provided by and used with the kind permission of Mike Wall, Hampshire County Moth Recorder. These will in due course be gradually replaced with species accounts with a Surrey context.

Wingspan: 9 — 10 mm

Surrey Flight Period: 8 Apr (2007) — 10 Nov (2010)

The flight period of overwintering adults are not given. See the flight chart below the distribution map.

Foodplant: Betula sp. (a birch).

Foodplant accounts are from the HOSTS database — Natural History Museum, London, UK. (CC0).

Status: Common

UK BAP:

WCA:

Click here to view the full geology map of Surrey.

Verification Grade: 4 — ️‼️Dissection required️‼️
Further Information: https://www.ukmoths.org.uk/species/parornix-betulae/
Statistics

* Based on adult records only.

Records: 124

Individuals: 2

Earliest Year: 1999

Latest Year: 2025

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