Charley Eiseman
@ceiseman.bsky.social
Freelance naturalist, especially into leafminers, sawfly larvae, and other underappreciated herbivorous insects | http://bugtracks.wordpress.com
Finally published! "Thirty-three new species of Agromyzidae (Diptera) from the United States and Canada, with new host and distribution records for 154 additional species." Now I've got some updating to do on BugGuide and iNaturalist...
Thirty-three new species of Agromyzidae (Diptera) from the United States and Canada, with new host and distribution records for 154 additional species
| Zootaxa
mapress.com
January 8, 2026 at 10:36 PM
Finally published! "Thirty-three new species of Agromyzidae (Diptera) from the United States and Canada, with new host and distribution records for 154 additional species." Now I've got some updating to do on BugGuide and iNaturalist...
Here's a tiny trichogrammatid wasp stuck to a gall midge larva, which is pretty tiny itself... Check out my blog post for more about this midge species (I'm afraid I don't have much to say about how the wasp came to be stuck to it).
Sticktoitiveness
Thanks to the fact that I have a searchable email account, and never delete any emails, I was able to quickly reconstruct this timeline just now: On August 1, 2007, I got a reply from Mark Allison,…
bugtracks.wordpress.com
January 2, 2026 at 3:20 PM
Here's a tiny trichogrammatid wasp stuck to a gall midge larva, which is pretty tiny itself... Check out my blog post for more about this midge species (I'm afraid I don't have much to say about how the wasp came to be stuck to it).
Reposted by Charley Eiseman
New study: backyard mosquito sprays lead to insecticide levels high enough to kill pollinators, and sprays travel easily into neighboring yards. stacksjournal.org/article/ande...
An initial assessment of risk to pollinators from mosquito control in residential settings - Stacks Journal
Peer-reviewed research - An initial assessment of risk to pollinators from mosquito control in residential settings
stacksjournal.org
December 18, 2025 at 10:21 PM
New study: backyard mosquito sprays lead to insecticide levels high enough to kill pollinators, and sprays travel easily into neighboring yards. stacksjournal.org/article/ande...
What do we think, does that say "N.J." at the top? No other labels on this moth specimen. Mary Murtfeldt was born in NYC but every publication of hers I've seen involves observations from Missouri, which is definitely where she was based in 1891.
December 14, 2025 at 1:05 PM
What do we think, does that say "N.J." at the top? No other labels on this moth specimen. Mary Murtfeldt was born in NYC but every publication of hers I've seen involves observations from Missouri, which is definitely where she was based in 1891.
Reposted by Charley Eiseman
See the influential paper and @undark.org commentary on Monsanto's ghostwriting by Alexander Kaurov & @naomioreskes.bsky.social: undark.org/2025/08/15/o... #pesticides #agtwitter
December 3, 2025 at 3:58 PM
See the influential paper and @undark.org commentary on Monsanto's ghostwriting by Alexander Kaurov & @naomioreskes.bsky.social: undark.org/2025/08/15/o... #pesticides #agtwitter
169 for me (out of 7351). Surprisingly these only include seven of the species I've named. I guess many of the others are only on BugGuide.
If you're bored and use iNaturalist, here's a link to a tool that displays which of your observations were the first recorded for a taxon. I apparently have 16 (out of 3,395). I need to get out more. 🌿 #inaturalist #nature #insects #spiders glauberramos.github.io/inat/first-o...
December 5, 2025 at 2:01 PM
169 for me (out of 7351). Surprisingly these only include seven of the species I've named. I guess many of the others are only on BugGuide.
Wondering who would cut 30 semicircular slits into the upper epidermis of a Cameraria leaf mine, and why... www.inaturalist.org/observations...
Genus Cameraria
Cameraria from Greenville County, SC, USA on June 20, 2025 at 03:36 PM by Grace Merkert
www.inaturalist.org
November 27, 2025 at 2:20 AM
Wondering who would cut 30 semicircular slits into the upper epidermis of a Cameraria leaf mine, and why... www.inaturalist.org/observations...
I've got your 2026 Leafminers of North America wall calendars right here!
That time of year again!
I’ve just finished putting together the wall calendar that my most generous patrons receive as a thank-you gift each year. As usual, I will also send a copy to anyone who makes a donation of at lea…
bugtracks.wordpress.com
November 9, 2025 at 6:48 PM
I've got your 2026 Leafminers of North America wall calendars right here!
A well-loved bunchberry plant (Cornus canadensis) with leaf mines of Phytomyza agromyzina (lower left), Antispila cornifoliella (other linear mines), Antispila freemani (big blotches), and a Caloptilia sp. (narrow blotch and leaf roll at right), as well as stippling from leafhopper feeding.
November 8, 2025 at 11:31 AM
A well-loved bunchberry plant (Cornus canadensis) with leaf mines of Phytomyza agromyzina (lower left), Antispila cornifoliella (other linear mines), Antispila freemani (big blotches), and a Caloptilia sp. (narrow blotch and leaf roll at right), as well as stippling from leafhopper feeding.
Ah yes, "gall nuts," the common name universally used for the genus Quercus...
November 7, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Ah yes, "gall nuts," the common name universally used for the genus Quercus...
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 …
bugtracks.wordpress.com
October 25, 2025 at 2:06 AM
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:
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…
bugtracks.wordpress.com
October 22, 2025 at 2:33 PM
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.
Three larvae of Cameraria guttifinitella (Gracillariidae), all tucked in for the winter in their cozy circular silk chambers in a poison ivy leaf.
October 1, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Three larvae of Cameraria guttifinitella (Gracillariidae), all tucked in for the winter in their cozy circular silk chambers in a poison ivy leaf.
Introducing Urodeta conocarpi (Elachistidae), a new leaf-mining moth from Florida and the Caribbean: bugtracks.wordpress.com/2025/08/24/a...
Another leafminer gets a name!
Back in March, as I was updating my chapter on the plant order Myrtales in Leafminers of North America, I was reminded of a strange little moth that Thomas Irvine had reared four years earlier (in …
bugtracks.wordpress.com
August 24, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Introducing Urodeta conocarpi (Elachistidae), a new leaf-mining moth from Florida and the Caribbean: bugtracks.wordpress.com/2025/08/24/a...
This is an unknown--probably undescribed--species that makes a frass-filled mine on Populus trichocarpa in western North America. Adults haven't yet been reared. Larvae can be found from late July to mid-October. www.inaturalist.org/observations...
August 17, 2025 at 12:40 PM
This is an unknown--probably undescribed--species that makes a frass-filled mine on Populus trichocarpa in western North America. Adults haven't yet been reared. Larvae can be found from late July to mid-October. www.inaturalist.org/observations...
I have a recurring problem where I can't get rid of the Search Results box when viewing a PDF in @adobe.com Acrobat. Anyone know how to fix this? Also, any way I can make everything AI-related go away, completely and forever?
July 24, 2025 at 10:14 PM
I have a recurring problem where I can't get rid of the Search Results box when viewing a PDF in @adobe.com Acrobat. Anyone know how to fix this? Also, any way I can make everything AI-related go away, completely and forever?
Any guesses what this says?
July 23, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Any guesses what this says?
An apparent case of xenophagy: This leaf mine on dogbane—a plant that normally has no leafminers—was made by a Phyllocnistis species, almost certainly P. populiella, which normally mines in aspen leaves. Normally when an egg is laid on the wrong kind of leaf, the larva dies in an early instar...
Genus Phyllocnistis
Phyllocnistis from Arnes Airstrip (YNR), Arnes, MB R0C 0C0, Canada on July 15, 2025 at 07:41 PM by Séraphin Poudrier
www.inaturalist.org
July 17, 2025 at 11:15 AM
An apparent case of xenophagy: This leaf mine on dogbane—a plant that normally has no leafminers—was made by a Phyllocnistis species, almost certainly P. populiella, which normally mines in aspen leaves. Normally when an egg is laid on the wrong kind of leaf, the larva dies in an early instar...
What's my best option for a low- (or no- ?) cost open-access journal, with quick turnaround, for a short paper on insect taxonomy?
July 11, 2025 at 10:59 PM
What's my best option for a low- (or no- ?) cost open-access journal, with quick turnaround, for a short paper on insect taxonomy?
Anyone going to be in southern Arizona or Mexico this summer? Someone needs to rear this mystery moth on Mirabilis longiflora! Larvae have been found from mid-August to early September; the known sites are shown here: www.inaturalist.org/observations...
Curved-horn Moths (Superfamily Gelechioidea)
Curved-horn Moths from Cochise County, AZ, USA on August 28, 2022 at 10:53 AM by Ethan
www.inaturalist.org
July 11, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Anyone going to be in southern Arizona or Mexico this summer? Someone needs to rear this mystery moth on Mirabilis longiflora! Larvae have been found from mid-August to early September; the known sites are shown here: www.inaturalist.org/observations...
Just escorted this redstart out of my garage.
July 9, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Just escorted this redstart out of my garage.
Something mining in sea lettuce (Ulva)?! www.inaturalist.org/observations...
Animals (Kingdom Animalia)
Animals from Comox-Strathcona, British Columbia, Canada on June 26, 2025 at 01:46 PM by Randal. On ulva
www.inaturalist.org
June 29, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Something mining in sea lettuce (Ulva)?! www.inaturalist.org/observations...
Beetles of the Brachys aerosus complex (Buprestidae) reared from leaf mines on 16 different host plants.
June 26, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Beetles of the Brachys aerosus complex (Buprestidae) reared from leaf mines on 16 different host plants.