Diagnosis. Easily separated from related spinosella by light collar, which is concolorous with frontal tuft (darker in spinosella), and absence of hair-pencil and special scales on hindwing of male, and by position and shape of signa in female genitalia. Similar, but larger, angulifasciella separated by presence of hair-pencil and different shape of valva in male and signa in female. See also diagnosis of hexapetalae.
Description. Male. Forewing length 1.92—2.40 mm (2.14 ± 0.17, 7), wingspan 4.3 — 5.3 mm. Head: frontal tuft yellowish orange to ferruginous; collar concolorous with or lighter than frontal tuft. Antennae with 26 — 32 segments (28.7 ± 1.9, 7). Thorax and forewings blackish fuscous with medial silvery fascia, inner margin slightly concave. Hindwing without hair-pencil or costal bristles. Underside forewing with a tuft of long grey hair-scales, arising near costal retinaculum.
Female. Forewing length 2.0 — 2.36 mm (2.15 ± 0.10, 14), wingspan 4.4 — 5.2 mm. Antennae with 23— 27 segments (24.5 ± 1.2, 11).
Male genitalia. Capsule length 201 — 214 µm (4). Tegumen produced into broad and truncate pseuduncus. Gnathos divided into short, rounded distal part, and basal part with serrate margin. Valva length 129—150 µm (4), inner margin straight, tip pointed; valva widest at base, constricted below tip. Aedeagus 231—274 µm (260.6 ± 17.0, 5), with single or bifid, pointed carinae.
Female genitalia. T7 without a row of setae. T8 with two lateral patches of scales and 6 — 8 setae. Anal papillae with 5 — 11 setae. Vestibulum with complete vaginal sclerite, a spiculate pouch with indistinct spines. Corpus bursae long, 570 — 715 µm, proximally covered with pectinations, distally with small spines; signa ovoid, almost similar, confined to proximal (posterior) half of corpus bursae, length 201—304 µm (238.9 ± 26.3, 19), 1.8 — 2.4 x as long as wide. Ductus spermathecae with 2½ — 3 convolutions.
Larva. Greenish white, with distinct brown ganglia. Head light brown. Ventral plates absent.
Hostplants: Prunus spp., particularly P. mahaleb L., further P. cocomilia Ten. (Greece), P. tenella Batsch (Hungary), P. fruticosa Pallas, P. avium L., P. cerasus L., Prunus cerasifera Ehrh. (new record), P. domestica L. and P. spinosa L. (new record).
On many hosts, confusion with mines of E. spinosella is possible, as happened with records from France, Les Prés which were partly misidentified as spinosella (see there). In this particular locality E. mahalebella was common on Prunus mahaleb, but also occurred on P. spinosa and P. domestica. Leafmines of E. mahalebella occur more often away from the midrib, near leaf margin, but this character is not absolute (see Nieukerken 1985). Early gallery narrow, following leaf margin, or much contorted, filled with reddish frass; later abruptly changing into small roundish blotch, with blackish frass accumulated in centre.
Widespread in southern half of Europe, but not yet found in Iberian Peninsula, northernmost record in northern France: Dun sur Meuse (Van Nieukerken et al. 2006). Switzerland: Sauter and Whitebread 2005; Czech Republic, Slovakia: Laštůvka and Laštůvka 1990b; Bulgaria: Tomov and Pelov 1998. Recorded from Rumania as E. spinosella (Draghia, 1967).
Life history. Univoltine in much of its area, bivoltine further south. Larvae in June (Greece) and again in July to November. Adults fly in May-August, the latter probably of the second generation.
This taxonomic description is based on Van Nieukerken (1985) and Van Nieukerken et al (2010).