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Do you know your plants?
For my Leafminers of North America project, I periodically need help identifying hostplants I find in my travels. You can peruse photos of them at iNaturalist. Thanks!
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Meta
Tag Archives: gall
Can gall midges be leafminers?
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
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged alternate-leaved dogwood, Cecidomyiidae, Cornaceae, Cornus, Cornus alternifolia, Diptera, dogwood, gall, larva, leaf mine, midge, Parallelodiplosis subtruncata
3 Comments
Acorn Plum Galls (and friends)
Hey, this blog now has over 1000 subscribers! Thanks everyone for your continued interest in my esoteric natural history investigations. I’m still slowly working my way through the photos I took last summer, during which one of my several jobs … Continue reading
Posted in Unsolved Mysteries
Tagged acorn, ambush bug, Amphibolips, Amphibolips quercusjuglans, Ceroptres, Crabronidae, Crossocerus, Cynipidae, Fagaceae, gall, gall wasp, Hymenoptera, ichneumon wasp, Ichneumonidae, inquiline, larva, Lepidoptera, moth, oak, oak plum, parasitism, parasitoid, Phymata, predation, Quercus, Quercus ilicifolia, Reduviidae, scrub oak, wasp
6 Comments
Life in a Wingstem Stem
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
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Agromyzidae, Asteraceae, beetle, Brachistinae, Brachistini, Braconidae, Cecidomyiidae, Coleoptera, Diptera, Figitidae, fly, gall, gall midge, Hymenoptera, larva, Melanagromyza, Melanagromyza vernoniana, Mordellidae, Neolasioptera, Neolasioptera imprimata, parasitism, parasitoid, Platygaster, Platygastridae, pupa, puparium, stem borer, tumbling flower beetle, Verbesina, Verbesina alternifolia, wasp, wingstem
5 Comments
Oak Shotholes
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
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Acordulecera, Agromyzidae, Cecidomyiidae, Contarinia, Diptera, gall, gall midge, Hymenoptera, Japanagromyza viridula, larva, leaf mine, midge, oak, Pergidae, Periclista, Quercus, Quercus rubra, red oak, sawfly, Tenthredinidae
8 Comments
The Yard List(s), Part 11
Now that I’ve declared my intention to find as many sawfly larvae as possible, they’re starting to show up everywhere I look. Today Julia and I made a rare trip away from home, lured by the news from my mother … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized, Unsolved Mysteries
Tagged Agromyzidae, Amelanchier, Aphrophoridae, Apiaceae, Asteraceae, Betula, Betulaceae, birch, black cherry, butterfly, casebearer, Coleophora, Coleophora pruniella, Coleophoridae, Colias, Collembola, Daucus carota, Diptera, Dolerus, egg, Epermenia, Epermenia albapunctella, Epermeniidae, flesh fly, fly, fox grape, Galium, Galium mollugo, gall, globular springtail, goldenrod, gooseberry, Gracillariidae, grape, Grossulariaceae, harvestman, Heliopsis helianthoides, Heliozela aesella, Heliozelidae, Hymenoptera, larva, leaf roll, Lepidoptera, Liriomyza, Liriomyza arctii, Liriomyza eupatorii, Liriomyza galiivora, Opiliones, oxeye, Pamphiliidae, Pamphilius, paper birch, Parornix, Philaenus spumarius, Phyllocnistis, Phyllocnistis vitifoliella, Pieridae, Prunus, Prunus serotina, pussy willow, Ribes, Rosaceae, Rubiaceae, Salicaceae, Salix, Salix discolor, Sarcophagidae, sawfly, shadbush, Solidago, spittlebug, springtail, sulphur, Tenthredinidae, thrips, Thysanoptera, Vitaceae, Vitis, Vitis labrusca, wild carrot, wild madder, willow
12 Comments
Willow Stem Galls
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
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Cecidomyiidae, chalcid, Diptera, Eurytomidae, Euura, fly, gall, gall midge, Hymenoptera, parasitism, parasitoid, Pteromalidae, Salicaceae, Salix, sawfly, Tenthredinidae, wasp, willow
1 Comment
A Peculiar Patch of Pussytoes
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
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Antennaria, Asphondylia, Asphondylia antennariae, Asteraceae, Cecidomyiidae, Diptera, Eurytomidae, gall, gall midge, Hymenoptera, parasitism, parasitoid, pussytoes
7 Comments
The Endless Diversity of Tiny Wasps, Continued
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
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Berkshire BioBlitz, blueberry, Cecidomyiidae, Dasineura, Dasineura parthenocissi, Diptera, fly, gall, gall midge, goat's rue, Hymenoptera, larva, midge, Nantucket, new species, parasitism, parasitoid, Parthenocissus, Platygaster, Platygaster tephrosiae, Platygaster vaccinii, Platygastridae, Tephrosia virginiana, Torymidae, Trichacis, Trichacis virginiensis, Vaccinium, Virginia creeper, wasp
5 Comments
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