Status and Distribution
Local to locally common over much of central and southern England, very local in south-west and northern England, parts of Wales and the Channel Islands. There are reports of two records from different parts of central lowland Scotland for which details are not known and which must therefore be considered unconfirmed; otherwise it is apparently absent from Scotland, Isle of Man, Northern Ireland and Ireland.
National Status:
Bradley & Fletcher no:
Provisional Map
Maps updated with all data received by February 2016.
Foodplant and Larval Feeding Signs
Atriplex spp. (orache) and Chenopodium spp. (goosefoot) including Atriplex patula (common orache), Atriplex hortensis (garden orache), Chenopodium album (fat-hen), C. giganteum (tree spinach, in Glos. 2014 R. Homan), C. polyspermum (many-seeded goosefoot) and C. rubrum (red goosefoot). The foodplant map shows Atriplex patula as a representative species from this group of plants. In Europe it has also been reported from Atriplex sagittata, Chenopodium bonus-henricus, C. hybridum, C. murale, Amaranthus and Polygonum aviculare.
The larva makes a distinctive mine forming a gut-like pattern by turning back on itself. This can completely occupy smaller leaves and the larva will readily move onto a fresh leaf. The frass, which is retained in the mine, is initially greenish in colour later becoming black.
The parasitic wasp Agathis fuscipennis (Zetterstedt) was bred from a larva of C. drurella found in VC27 in 2003 (M. Hall, det. M. Shaw).
British Leafminers
Foodplant Map
Habitat
On waste ground, edges of arable fields and where the foodplants grow amongst root crops.
Finding the Moth
Larva: C. sexguttella and Dipteran species also mine some of the same foodplants but the distinctive mine of C. drurella, with its gut-like pattern, readily distinguish this species.
Adult: The moth has been found resting on the foliage and flowers of skullcap, cherry, tansy, rudbeckia and common fleabane but it is most regularly encountered by sweeping the foodplants and comes to light.
Similar Species
The silver metallic scales and orange forewing markings against a black background gives the moth a somewhat similar appearance to Chrysoclista lathamella, C. linneella or Mompha locupletella. Chrysoesthia drurella usually has a complete, outwardly oblique silver fascia at one-quarter (sometimes slightly broken), not present in the other three species. The relatively broad shape of the hindwing which comes to a point or finger-like projection (a standard feature of the Gelechiidae) will immediately rule these species out.
Larval Occurrence
Flight Period
Double-brooded from late April to early July and from late July to September. During 2012 exceptionally large numbers were found at one site in mid- to late July but these seem to have been associated with moths breeding in a greenhouse (polytunnel) environment. A specimen dated 5th November 1985 (VC17) has been found in a private collection but it is not known if it was reared from a larva hence producing this unusual date.