Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, (Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Moldova, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, central European Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, and Ukraine) and in the eastern Palearctic realm, in Central Asia (Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan), and Japan.

It is also present in North Africa (Algeria, Morocco) and in the Middle East (Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Israel).

After 6–8 days, the eggs hatch and the larvae mine the leaves, initially in a short corridor and later, a yellow or brown blotch.

Larvae feed on the leaves of a wide variety of plants, especially of Apiaceae species (Heracleum sphondylium, Angelica sylvestris, Apium graveolens, Apium nodiflorum, Conium maculatum, Heracleum sphondylium, Pastinaca sativa, Smyrnium olusatrum, Ammi species, Anthriscus cerefolium, Berula erecta, Bupleurum species, Cicuta virosa, Coriandrum sativum, Daucus carota, Eryngium campestre, Falcaria vulgaris, Heracleum mantegazzianum, Levisticum officinale, Ligusticum scoticum, etc.).

[6] They are considered a pest of celery (Apium graveolens) and parsnips (Pastinaca sativa), where they damage the plant by mining the leaves.