Diagnosis. Male easily separated from other fasciate species of Parafomoria by the presence of a long white brush on the hindwing,
and the scattered white scales on the forewing. Female differs from other fasciate species by presence of more white scales in basal half of
forewing, and in genitalia by presence of corpus bursae and seven convolutions in ductus spermathecae.
Description. Male. Forewing length 1.7-2.0 mm (n=4). Frontal tuft and collar fuscous, sometimes mixed with yellowish scales,
becoming darker towards vertex; scape white with a few brown scales; antenna very long, with 33-44 segments. Thorax brownish
with some white scales. Forewing brownish with scattered buff-white scales, these becoming more abundant towards tip, sometimes
tending to form an indistinct fascia at two thirds from base; cilia mixed brown and white. Hindwing with a long white brush,
about half as long as hindwing, surrounded by some yellowish scales, rest of hindwing
brownish. Female. Forewing length 1.6-2.2 mm. Antenna with 27-30 segments. Forewing brownish, basal part with many
scattered white scales, at two-thirds from base a white fascia, distal part brown, a few white scales along cilia border only.
Venation. Forewing: M fused with R5; A1 + 2 bent. Male genitalia. Capsule
320-395 µm long. Vinculum with large rounded ventral plate, almost half as long as total capsule; lateral arms expanded. Tegumen
bilobed. Gnathos with rather broad central element. Uncus an inverted Y. Valvae basally separated, length 155-200
µm, slender, with two prominent mesa1 lobes, one dorsomedial at one-third from base and one more ventrally and distally.
Posterior mesa1 corner rounded, a clear digitate process distally. Transtillae with long transverse bar, about twice as long as ventral bar.
Aedeagus 285-350 µm, basally truncate and widened, opening of ductus ejaculatorius at one-third from anterior end; distally two pairs of
carinate processes: a ventral pair of strongly outward-curved horns, and a dorsal pair of small dorsally curved horns. Vesica with a
few spines and one indistinct longer cornutus. Female genitalia. Ovipositor short-pointed; T8 consisting of two triangular
plates with 16-17 hairs each; T9 rounded, with two groups of 12 hairs; S7 cuspidate, reaching beyond T8 and 9; anterior and
posterior apophyses of about same length. Bursa very small, hardly exceeding segment 7, with minute pectinations; ductus spermathecae
with seven convolutions. Final instar larva. Yellowish, feeding venter upwards. Meso- and metathorax with 8 or rarely 7 pairs of setae.
Host plants: Helianthemum nummularium (L.) Miller, H. canum (L.) Baumg., H. oelandicum (L.) DC. and H. salicifolium (L.) Miller. Mine.
A narrow gallery, often following the leaf margin or a vein, first with linear narrow frass, later becoming dispersed. Egg deposited on upper surface,
scale flat, brownish.
Central and south Europe: West Germany (Wiesbaden; Baden: Heidelberg (Reutti et al., 1898) and Bavaria); East Germany (Harz;
Thuringen); southeastern Poland (Borkowski, 1975); Czechoslovakia (Zimmermann, 1944); Hungary; Austria; Switzerland (Weber, 1943);
northern Italy (Klimesch, 1940, 1951 ; Hartig, 1964); France (Alps and Pyrenees). Also recorded from Bulgaria (Buhr, 1940).
Lhomme's record [1963] from the Gironde in western France is doubtful, because it is based on mines, not examined by me, which
could also belong to Stigmella diniensis.
Life history. Larvae can be found from the middle of June until the end of October; in Hungary there are three generations (Szöcs, 1968).
Adults are on the wing from March to April (occasionally May), in July and from August to September.
This taxonomic description is based on van Nieukerken (1983).