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Charley Eiseman

@ceiseman.bsky.social

1.4K followers 110 following 200 posts

Freelance naturalist, especially into leafminers, sawfly larvae, and other underappreciated herbivorous insects | http://bugtracks.wordpress.com

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Charley Eiseman @ceiseman.bsky.social · 10d

Some weeks you don't get to name any new species, some weeks you get two. Here's my latest, complete with #OpenAccess link to the paper:

Another One!

When it rains, it pours! Two days after I posted here about the newly named species Earomyia veratri, another paper of mine has just been published, describing another new fly species. This one is …

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Charley Eiseman @ceiseman.bsky.social · 12d

In my pursuit of an unknown species of leaf-mining fly on false hellebore, I accidentally discovered a new species of stem-boring fly, which had a zillion other insects living in the stems along with it.

False Hellebore Fauna

For the past decade, I have been trying to rear an unknown species of Liriomyza (Agromyzidae) that mines leaves of false hellebore (Melanthiaceae: Veratrum viride). The mines are very scarce consid…

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Charley Eiseman @ceiseman.bsky.social · 23d

It's not at all clear to me from that document why this species would be considered a pest. There is no mention of VSC, which I haven't heard of before.

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Charley Eiseman @ceiseman.bsky.social · 23d

Since you're looking at a lot of redbud seedpods, I'm curious what you think of this discussion/interpretation of the mines that sometimes occur in them: www.inaturalist.org/observations...

Redbud Seed Weevil (Gibbobruchus mimus)

Redbud Seed Weevil from Twinsburg, OH 44087, USA on August 18, 2024 at 01:13 PM by bunnymom20. Redbud. Samples collected. Photo 1: sample collected on 18 Aug. Photos 2-5: opening of samples...

www.inaturalist.org

Charley Eiseman @ceiseman.bsky.social · 27d

Oh, never mind, I figured it out.

Charley Eiseman @ceiseman.bsky.social · Oct 1

Three larvae of Cameraria guttifinitella (Gracillariidae), all tucked in for the winter in their cozy circular silk chambers in a poison ivy leaf.

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Charley Eiseman @ceiseman.bsky.social · Oct 1

Sure enough! Wonder what it all means.

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Charley Eiseman @ceiseman.bsky.social · Sep 23

But the few bark mines I have seen on any kind of chestnut have been Marmara sp.

Charley Eiseman @ceiseman.bsky.social · Sep 23

The type series of Ectoedemia castaneae, now considered a synonym, supposedly was reared from galls on chestnut, but no one has seen them--or reared it from chestnut--since 1913 or whenever that was. The thinking is that the larvae actually made bark mines on the twig that had the galls.

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Charley Eiseman @ceiseman.bsky.social · Sep 23

I do it from time to time. Not sure how often it sticks.

Charley Eiseman @ceiseman.bsky.social · Sep 22

That is a terribly unfortunate common name for a moth that feeds on both oak and chestnut, and is one of numerous moths that do so. One of the chestnut specialists would be more deserving of it, but I don't think any ambiguous common names are useful.

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