Tag Archives: Cecidomyiidae

Can gall midges be leafminers?

Posted on November 13, 2022 by Charley Eiseman

The Leafminers of North America project I created on iNaturalist a few years ago has been an excellent way for me to collect new host plant and geographic distribution records for known leafminer species, as well as to identify new … Continue reading →

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Life in a Wingstem Stem

Posted on January 9, 2022 by Charley Eiseman

On May 8 last year, Julia and I visited her family’s land in Hocking County, Ohio (which we’ll be doing again today, as it happens), and for whatever reason, a little clump of dead wingstem (Asteraceae: Verbesina alternifolia) stems from … Continue reading →

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Oak Shotholes

Posted on November 21, 2021 by Charley Eiseman

At the moment there are 648 observations on iNaturalist purporting to show the “oak shothole leafminer” (Agromyzidae: Japanagromyza viridula). Apparently I have personally verified 93 of them, in almost all cases based on the presence of leaf mines. Virtually all … Continue reading →

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Willow Stem Galls

Posted on June 4, 2020 by Charley Eiseman

Swellings on willow stems can be caused by a variety of gall midges, sawflies, agromyzid flies, and buprestid beetles. In many cases I have no clue as to the identity of the gall inducer just from looking at a photo … Continue reading →

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A Peculiar Patch of Pussytoes

Posted on January 29, 2020 by Charley Eiseman

This week (on account of tomorrow is the deadline) I got around to writing up the results of the two-day survey of leaf-mining moths that Julia and I conducted at Black Rock Forest at the end of August. I showed … Continue reading →

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Life Lurking in Lousewort

Posted on November 25, 2019 by Charley Eiseman

Not long after we started to let our lawn go wild, a couple of blue-eyed grass plants (Sisyrinchium montanum) popped up in one area. Blue-eyed grass owes its name to its grass-like leaves; it is actually in the iris family … Continue reading →

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The Endless Diversity of Tiny Wasps, Continued

Posted on November 27, 2017 by Charley Eiseman

A couple of months ago I gave a sneak preview of some new species I found during the 2016 Berkshire BioBlitz on Mt. Greylock. One of them now officially has a name, thanks to a paper that was just published … Continue reading →

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Giving Wasps Their Due

Posted on August 4, 2016 by Charley Eiseman

I often see pie charts like this one suggesting that about a quarter of all insect species are beetles. Suspiciously, other sources (e.g. here) say beetles represent about a quarter of all animal species, and Wikipedia goes so far as to say … Continue reading →

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Things To Look For This Spring, Part 3

Posted on April 27, 2016 by Charley Eiseman

First, a quick update on the hackberry galls: Mike Palmer has found a bunch of them in Oklahoma, and in fact they may already all have been abandoned there. Some of them have holes near the base, and others have … Continue reading →

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Things To Look For This Spring, Part 1

Posted on April 4, 2016 by Charley Eiseman

I have a pretty much endless mental list of natural history mysteries that I would like to follow up on at some point, but there are several that, for various reasons, are in the front of my mind right now. A few of … Continue reading →

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