Best discovery at this weekend's yard sale day: I saw a bunch of tiny orange midges swarming around certain shrubs in people's yards. Looking closer, I saw they were molting from galls on the undersides of the leaves—often in bundles of three or four, leaving empty exuviae behind. Many were mating, presumably about to start the cycle all over again.

Just got around to looking it up. They are boxwood leaf miners, a kind of gall midge (family Cecidomyiidae). More information: https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/IN1291

#bugstodon #insects #flies #midges #parasitism #galls #Diptera #Cecidomyiidae