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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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Tag Archives: midge
A leaf-mining midge odyssey (Part 1)
Back in 2012, when I had only recently realized I needed to write a complete guide to the leafminers of North America and as a result Julia and I were driving around the US to find them all, we visited … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Agromyzidae, Balsaminaceae, Ceanothus, Chironomidae, Diptera, Eriodictyon, Erythranthe, exuviae, fly, Gelechiidae, Impatiens, jewelweed, larva, leaf mine, Lepidoptera, Limnophyes, Limnophyes viribus, Metepeira, Metriocnemus, Metriocnemus erythranthei, Metriocnemus eurynotus, midge, Mimulus, monkeyflower, Namaceae, Nepticulidae, new species, orbweaver, Phrymaceae, Phytomyza, Phytomyza eriodictyi, Plantaginaceae, pupa, Rhamnaceae, speedwell, spider, Tischeria, Tischeriidae, Veronica, Veronica anagallis-aquatica, water speedwell, web, Xenolechia ceanothiella, yerba santa
2 Comments
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
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
Spring Beauty Visitors
Narrow-leaved spring beauty (Claytonia virginica) is a rare species where I live, listed as Endangered by the Massachusetts Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program. So it was a treat to spend the past week in Ohio, where in some places … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Andrena, Andrena erigeniae, Andrenidae, ant, Atypidae, bee, Chironomidae, Claytonia, Claytonia virginica, Dialictus, Diptera, fly, Formica, Formica subsericea, Formicidae, Halictidae, Hymenoptera, Lasioglossum, midge, mining bee, Montiaceae, Orthocladiinae, pollinator, Prenolepis imparis, purseweb spider, Sphodros, Sphodros nigripes, spider, spring beauty, spring ephemerals, sweat bee
10 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
4 Comments
Sticky Plants
When you use a technical botanical manual to identify a plant, you will often encounter vague references to “glands” or “glandular hairs” on various plant parts, without any indication of the functions of these structures. Four years ago I wrote about … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Agromyzidae, Cerodontha, Cerodontha dorsalis, Chironomidae, Coccoidea, dark-winged fungus gnat, Diptera, Drosera, Ericaceae, fly, fungus gnat, Kalmia, Kalmia latifolia, midge, mountain laurel, Orthocladiinae, Phylloxeridae, Platygastridae, scale insect, Sciaridae, sticky plants, sundew, wasp
2 Comments
Green Islands
In Idaho at the end of September, 2012, Julia and I noticed some striking green spots on dogwood leaves that were otherwise senescing. As you may have noticed, each of them was centered along a major vein. When we flipped … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Cecidomyiidae, Cornaceae, Cornus, dogwood, gall, gall midge, green island, midge, Parallelodiplosis subtruncata, symbiosis, Wolbachia
7 Comments
Hackberry Midge Galls Revisited
In yesterday’s mail I was pleasantly surprised to find a copy of Raymond J. Gagné’s new paper on hackberry gall midges*. As promised, I am following up with more information on the galls pictured in this post from two years ago. … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Cecidomyiidae, Celticecis, Celtis, Celtis occidentalis, gall, gall midge, hackberry, midge
12 Comments
Goldenrod Rosette Galls, Part 3
Last August I mentioned I was heading off to do some work in Maine and that I might bump into some more of the seaside goldenrod rosette galls that were only known from a single example I had collected on … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Asphondylia, Cecidomyiidae, chalcid, Diptera, Eurytomidae, fly, gall, gall midge, inquiline, larva, Lestodiplosis, midge, new species, parasitism, parasitoid, predation, Pteromalidae, pupa, wasp
5 Comments
Flies from a Goldenrod Leaf
As part of my survey of gall-making and leaf-mining species of Nantucket last summer, I collected a number of Elliott’s goldenrod (Solidago latissimifolia) leaves with mines like this one: Beginning three days later, agromyzid flies emerged from these mines over … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Agromyzidae, Asteromyia, Asteromyia modesta, Braconidae, Calycomyza solidaginis, Cecidomyiidae, chalcid, Diptera, Elliott's goldenrod, fly, gall, gall midge, goldenrod, leaf mine, midge, Nantucket, Opiinae, parasitoid, Pteromalidae, Solidago, Solidago latissimifolia, wasp
6 Comments
BugTracks 