Yorkshire Status: Local resident.

This is one of the commoner birch feeding Eriocrania species. The adults are very difficult to tell from E. sangii and are best separated by dissection. The leaf mines however are easier. Early instar larvae are very distinctive with a black head and pronotum (the bit behind the head) if you look at the dorsal side. If you turn it over to look at the ventral side, it has a series of black dots on the segments behind the head. As it matures however, it becomes quite different as it loses all the black and looks a completely different beast. It has a pale brown head and you might be able to make out lateral projections on the first abdominal segment. It could be mistaken for E. unimaculella but does not have the dark rear projections to the side of the head capsule. It ought to be fairly common in most birch woodland, despite the lack of dots on the map. Interesingly Porritt in 1907 said that it was "evidently abundant everywhere"

Sutton & Beaumont, 1989: Widely recorded, although there is no record from VC61. All Yorkshire records are regarded as unconfirmed on map 13 in MBGBI 1, however there are a number of confirmed records from the south of VC63.

Verification Grade Comment: Mine: Reared or larval morphology

	Determination by Genitalia Examination (gen. det.) Required

	Mine: Moth needs to be reared and, in some cases, possibly dissected.

Recorded in 46 (23%) of 200 10k Squares. First Recorded in 1859. Last Recorded in 2024. Additional Stats

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