A common species in Belgium.

The larva makes a long, serpentine mine in the upper epidermis of the leaf of Populus nigra, sometimes on the underside. A mined leaf has the appearance of a snail having crawled over it. Pupation in a cocoon under a silk membrane on the mined surface at the edge of the leaf, the edge partly folded over the cocoon.

The adults fly in two generations a year; during June and July and again from mid August till next April, hibernating in thatch or hayricks.