Tag Archives: Arizona

In Search of the Lost Sawfly

Posted on February 11, 2019 by Charley Eiseman

Greetings to everyone who subscribed to this blog after my recent post about the inhabitants of a clump of sod in my front lawn! This one will take us a little farther afield. As most of you know, I’ve been … Continue reading →

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Another Day, Another New Species

Posted on November 28, 2017 by Charley Eiseman

Five years ago this month, Julia and I were nearing the end of our first (and longest) trip around the US in search of leafminers. Walking up a desert wash near Tucson, Arizona, we encountered a leguminous shrub that was … Continue reading →

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Arizona Oak Galls, Part 5

Posted on May 26, 2014 by Charley Eiseman

Here is yet another gall from Arizona white oak. It is another “oak apple,” superficially similar to these, which I now know to be Atrusca aggregata (thanks to Jim Zimmerman, who has studied southwestern cynipid galls for many years and … Continue reading →

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Arizona Oak Galls, Part 4

Posted on May 16, 2014 by Charley Eiseman

Here is yet another type of gall found on the underside of oak leaves in Madera Canyon. Seven weeks after I collected these, two parasitoids emerged. The one above is another male Torymus (Torymidae), which may or may not be the same … Continue reading →

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Arizona Oak Galls, Part 3

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Charley Eiseman

Okay, having looked at photos of all the possible species, I’m pretty well satisfied that Arizona white oak (Quercus arizonica) was the host of all of the galls I collected in Madera Canyon that actually produced adult cynipid wasps. Armed … Continue reading →

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Arizona Oak Galls, Part 2

Posted on May 11, 2014 by Charley Eiseman

Gall #2 is a fancy cup-shaped one found on the undersides of leaves, sometimes in clusters. A month after I collected them, the galls (kept in a tightly sealed vial) had become covered with mold, but a single wasp chewed … Continue reading →

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Arizona Oak Galls, Part 1

Posted on May 10, 2014 by Charley Eiseman

On my trip around the western US in the fall of 2012, I mostly limited my collecting to leafminers.  However, I made an exception when I got to Madera Canyon, Arizona, because I had found all kinds of interesting oak … Continue reading →

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Moths from a Desert Legume

Posted on January 18, 2014 by Charley Eiseman

Okay, it looks like the identity of the cherry-ish plant from the northwestern US in my last post is going to remain a mystery, but maybe this plant from the desert Southwest will fare better?  This leguminous shrub (Fabaceae) was … Continue reading →

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Monthly Mystery #14: Holes and Tunnels in Agave Leaves

Posted on January 1, 2014 by Charley Eiseman

On page 302 of Tracks & Sign of Insects, there is a photo of a fleshy yucca leaf riddled with holes, next to a close-up of the eggs Noah found in one of the holes.  As explained in the text, after … Continue reading →

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More Mallow Miners

Posted on November 12, 2013 by Charley Eiseman

A few weeks ago I wrote about a mystery plant from Arizona that I suspected was a mallow because of its leaf mines and the fly that had emerged from one of them.  Among the few responses I got, there … Continue reading →

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