I just took another look at this four-year-old observation of leaf mines on Dusky Crane's-Bill (*Geranium phaeum*) in Toronto: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/87079513 The mines are a good match for the *Agromyza nigrescens* mines shown on the European leafminer site: https://bladmineerders.nl/parasites/animalia/arthropoda/insecta/diptera/brachycera/agromyzidae/agromyzinae/agromyza/agromyza-nigrescens/ I haven't come across any similar observations since then, but please keep an eye out, and if you see any, collect the leaves for rearing. This would be a new species for North America.
Congrats to @ceiseman !! Well deserved recognition of you tireless work on leaf miners.
#leafminers #entomology #insects
Charley Eiseman - Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation
https://www.maxwell-hanrahan.org/award/charley-eiseman
This is #ragweed, most likely /#Ambrosia artemisi...(something)/, from the #sunflower family.
It is native to the Americas, invasive in Europe, Asia, and Africa. It competes with modern food crops, reducing yield, but is itself very nutritious as greens or seeds, used as both food and medicine by native peoples.
Everyone hates ragweed, but I grow it on purpose in my native plant gardens, and also as a trap plant to draw #leafminers away from my #pepper plants.
#gardening with #weeds
Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) provides for many insects from native bees to parasitic flies that followed the Europeans to North America. Unfortunately, it's a highly invasive plant that has the potential to destroy native plant communities.
In this comprehensive article, we will dive into pests that commonly afflict houseplants, from tiny aphids to stubborn spider mites, providing you with organic, natural strategies and easy to understand tips to identify, prevent, and eradicate these nuisances. Get ready to reclaim your indoor oasis and have a pest-free environment in your home again! According
Zum #InsektenSamstag heute die Spuren verschiedener minierender Insekten. Die Larven dieser Motten, Fliegen und Käfer fressen Gänge in die inneren Gewebe von Laubblättern und bleiben dabei durch die unversehrten Außenhäute der Blätter geschützt. Minierer sind so vielfältig wie ihre Wirtspflanzen - bei iNaturalist hat das "Leafminers of Europe" Projekt weit über 500 Arten dokumentiert und "Leafminers of North America" fast 1000. Und wenn auch einige wenige Vertreter bei Landwirten und Gärtnern nicht gern gesehen sind, richten doch die allermeisten Arten keinen ernsthaften Schaden an.
I’m becoming increasingly fascinated by #LeafMiners - larvae of some moths (and probably other invertebrates) that eat the leaves of their chosen #foodplant from the inside.
Here’s one on a #cherry leaf and the other on an #oak leaf.
In normal light it’s hard to see they’re there at all but back lighting helps.
#nature #NaturePhotography #wildlife #invertebrates #insect #Insects #macro #macrophotography #closeup #leaves #entomology
~meoralis~
Colin Purrington
Chuckling Duck
David Michael Self
dandelion
By Jessica Achillea
Max, overwintering bug
Jonny Clark