Charley Eiseman

bugtracks.wordpress.comA New RecordGreetings from Aton Forest! I came here to present a slideshow this afternoon about the leafminers of Aton Forest, but I arrived earlier in the day so I could spend a few hours looking for, well, l…

19 Sept

To follow up on a question @colinpurrington.bsky.social asked me several years ago, here are five different leafminers in a single leaf! bugtracks.wordpress.com/2026/09/18/a...

inaturalist.orggumhead (Gymnosperma glutinosum)gumhead from Cochise County, AZ, USA on March 2, 2017 at 03:17 PM by Charley Eiseman

11 Sept

Arizona plant question: Can anyone tell me for sure whether this is Gutierrezia sarothrae or Gymnosperma glutinosum? www.inaturalist.org/observations...

11 Sept

This moth wants to know what its host plant is!

bugtracks.wordpress.comGrappling with Grape LeafminersI don’t remember when I first became aware of reports that the grape (Vitaceae: Vitis) leafminer Phyllocnistis vitegenella (Gracillariidae) had been introduced in Europe. There is no mention …

28 Aug

Another new moth species for North America (Phyllocnistis occidentalis Eiseman & van Nieukerken), and the identity of the grape leafminer that has been spreading across Europe for the past 30 years is clarified (P. vitifoliella, not P. vitegenella!).

bugtracks.wordpress.comAnother two new leaf-mining moth speciesI just discovered that my third paper in the open-access journal Insecta Mundi was published a few days ago: Eiseman, Charles S. and Jean-François Landry. 2026. Two new species of Keiferia Busck (L…

4 Aug

My latest couple of new moth species:

zenodo.orgThe Plant-Feeding Gall Midges of North AmericaThis revision of The Plant-Feeding Gall Midges of North America, originally published in 1989, began as soon as the earlier book was in press. Since then, more than half again as many records of plant...

25 July

Stop everything! Ray Gagne has just finished the second edition of "The Plant-Feeding Gall Midges of North America" and it's freely available here: zenodo.org/records/2137...

bugtracks.wordpress.comLooking for Lupine LeafminersThe other day, Sonja Scheffer wrote to invite me to collaborate on a paper she’s working on involving agromyzid flies that mine leaves of lupines (Fabaceae: Lupinus spp.). It will, among othe…

5 July

Lupine leafminers wanted!

inaturalist.orgInsects (Class Insecta)Insects from Riverview, FL, USA on June 21, 2026 at 06:42 AM by Ryan Callahan

5 July

@scottpegan.bsky.social Weird thing on a Q. virginiana branch for your consideration: www.inaturalist.org/observations...

20 June

These purplish midribs of smooth aster (Symphyotrichum laeve) leaves are caused by mining of Ophiomyia astericosta (Agromyzidae), a species I named with Owen Lonsdale earlier this year. Never noticed them in my yard until just now!

bugtracks.wordpress.comMiscellany from the yard and kitchenJust before Julia and Ayla left for Ohio a week ago today, Ayla (now three years old) picked a bunch of (mostly) sweet William flowers (Caryophyllaceae: Dianthus barbatus), which have been sitting …

19 June

inaturalist.orgNorthern Parula (Setophaga americana)Northern Parula from Manhattan, New York, NY, USA on May 11, 2026 at 05:30 PM by David Jeffrey Ringer. raiding leafmines of Profenusa canadensis on hawthorn (images in reverse chronological order)

16 June

Warblers feasting on leaf-mining sawfly larvae: www.inaturalist.org/observations...

5 June

I just put together a wish list of North American Phyllocnistis leaf mines. I'm hoping for larvae from each of them for DNA barcoding, and eventually I'll need reared adult specimens to describe the ones that are new species (which is probably most of them): www.inaturalist.org/projects/lea...

inaturalist.orgPhytomyza verbenaePhytomyza verbenae in May 2026 by Ryan Donnelly. Host Verbena californica (CRPR 1B.1, Federally Threatened, State Threatened)

22 May

I think this is the first time I've seen a species I named turn up on a federally Threatened plant: www.inaturalist.org/observations...

22 May

Can anyone tell me what is the surname in the Indonesian name "Tjoa Tjien Mo"? I've found examples of all three being interpreted as the surname.

inaturalist.orgPhytomyza nemophilaePhytomyza nemophilae from Building 3, Portland, OR 97229, USA on May 4, 2026 at 02:00 PM by Tser

5 May

Always fun to see species I named turn up on @inaturalist.bsky.social, and even more so when people ID them without my help! Phytomyza nemophilae was originally described from specimens @cosmopterix.bsky.social reared from Nemophila, and has since been reared... www.inaturalist.org/observations...

5 May

...from Hydrophyllum tenuipes. In the completed mine, the puparium is hidden on the underside of the leaf, many cm away from the apparent end of the mine, and often on a different leaflet. #flyweek

Happy #FlyWeek! If you're in northeastern North America, please keep an eye out for this mystery leafminer on hackberry--an Agromyza species that has never been reared. Larvae are present only in spring, and rearing adults will require keeping puparia happy until next spring.

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You'll see from the map that these mines have been found throughout eastern North America, but it's already too late to find occupied mines in the southeast this year.

inaturalist.orgGenus AgromyzaAgromyza from Nerima Municipal Hikarigaoka Daihachi Elementary School, Itabashi, Tokyo, JP on April 18, 2026 at 12:12 PM by Noriko Ito. On Celtis sinensis

4 May

Speaking of Agromyza spp. on Celtis, check out this leaf-rolling leafminer on C. sinensis that @norikonbuchan.bsky.social just found in Tokyo! This looks exactly like the work of A. torta Eiseman & Lonsdale, described just a few months ago from North Carolina. www.inaturalist.org/observations...

2 May

First leafminer I've seen this year! This is a larva of Aulagromyza cornigera (Agromyzidae) almost done mining a leaf of honeyberry (Lonicera caerulea) in Massachusetts. Probably tomorrow it will drop to the ground and pupate, emerging as an adult next April. #FlyWeek

inaturalist.orgObservationsiNaturalist is a social network for naturalists! Record your observations of plants and animals, share them with friends and researchers, and learn about the natural world.

These mines always begin at the midrib with a narrow, winding linear portion that eventually reaches the leaf margin, which the mine then follows as it widens. Some other examples: www.inaturalist.org/observations...

inaturalist.orgWinged and Once-winged Insects (Subclass Pterygota)Winged and Once-winged Insects from Ranga Reddy, IN-TG, IN on June 6, 2025 at 07:01 AM by Pavansai. Observed this on a bark of a tree

28 Feb

Anybody know about these square eggs in India? www.inaturalist.org/observations...

Charley Eiseman reposted

Colin Purrington

@colinpurrington.bsky.social

22 Feb

Profile of @ceiseman.bsky.social's leafminer work. #inaturalist #leafminers #insects #moths #flies #sawflies #beetles #entomology www.inaturalist.org/blog/124811

inaturalist.orgIdentifier Profile: @ceisemanThis is the twenty-ninth entry in an ongoing series profiling the amazing identifiers of iNaturalist. An iNaturalist observation records an encounter between an observer and an organism or recent evid...

bugtracks.wordpress.comTaxonomyAlthough I have essentially no formal entomological training, I have been involved in the describing and naming of many new insect species with various taxonomist collaborators, and I have recently…

15 Feb

In case anyone's keeping track (I had lost track until just now), I've now helped name 115 new insect species, 95 of them being agromyzid flies described with Owen Lonsdale. You can find them all here: bugtracks.wordpress.com/taxonomy/

Charley Eiseman reposted

Jim Hayden

@jeh8i8.bsky.social

26 Dec 2025

This greenbriar leafminer, Marmara smilacisella, adorned its cocoon with clusters of pearlescent bubbles. I wish my holiday decorations were so neat!

Charley Eiseman reposted

Rosemary Mosco

@rosemarymosco.com

28 Jan

Replying to @rosemarymosco.com

I learned this on the podcast Criminal: there was a court case about moon rock theft called “United States vs. One Lucite Ball Containing Lunar Material (One Moon Rock) and One Ten Inch By Fourteen Inch Wooden Plaque”. The lucite ball, truly the US' most fearsome enemy www.forbes.com/2010/07/08/l...

forbes.comUnited States Vs. One Moon RockHaving a moon rock may not be illegal, but getting one almost certainly is.

inaturalist.orgTelamoptilia malvavisciTelamoptilia malvavisci from 1246 Lakeside Blvd, Brownsville, TX 78520, USA on February 22, 2021 at 06:47 PM by David Jeffrey Ringer. Telamoptilia cf. hibiscivora per Charley Eiseman. Reared from a m...

27 Jan

The "October 2025" journal issue just showed up in my mailbox, so I guess my new species name is validly published at this point, even though @bioone.bsky.social still hasn't gotten its act together: www.inaturalist.org/observations...

27 Jan

Eiseman, Charles S., David Jeffrey Ringer, and Tracy S. Feldman. 2025. New records of Telamoptilia Kumata and Kuroko (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae: Acrocercopinae) from the USA, with the description of a new species. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 127(4): 699–707.

inaturalist.orgTelamoptilia malvavisciTelamoptilia malvavisci is a species of insects with 16 observations

27 Jan

Telamoptilia malvavisci is known from a single adult specimen, but there are several observations of leaf mines on @inaturalist.bsky.social: www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1660314...

mapress.com Thirty-three new species of Agromyzidae (Diptera) from the United States and Canada, with new host and distribution records for 154 additional species | Zootaxa

8 Jan

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...

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bugguide.netAgromyza parca - Agromyza dichantheliiAn online resource devoted to North American insects, spiders and their kin, offering identification, images, and information.

9 Jan

And a paratype of Agromyza dichanthelii, which feeds on deertongue grass and other Dichanthelium spp. (the holotype came from my front yard in Massachusetts): bugguide.net/node/view/11...

inaturalist.orgAgromyza tortaAgromyza torta from Laurinburg, NC 28352, USA on April 10, 2025 by tracysfeldman. miner on Sugar Hackberry

9 Jan

Agromyza torta is the first agromyzid known to roll leaves. The rolling is apparently induced during oviposition, and then the larva mines in the rolled leaf. This can be considered a gall, and the hackberry gall inducer A. deserta is a close relative. www.inaturalist.org/observations...

mapress.com Thirty-three new species of Agromyzidae (Diptera) from the United States and Canada, with new host and distribution records for 154 additional species | Zootaxa

8 Jan

bugguide.netlateral - Agromyza celtitexanaAn online resource devoted to North American insects, spiders and their kin, offering identification, images, and information.

9 Jan

Here's the holotype of Agromyza celtitexana (reared by John Schneider from hackberry, in Texas): bugguide.net/node/view/24...

bugtracks.wordpress.comSticktoitivenessThanks 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,…

2 Jan

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).

bugtracks.wordpress.comLife under a lettuce leafEver since I found Marmara leaf mines on the undersides of tall blue lettuce (Asteraceae: Lactuca biennis) leaves in my yard five years ago (see this post, #164), I’ve been peeking under leav…

22 Dec 2025

stacksjournal.orgAn initial assessment of risk to pollinators from mosquito control in residential settings - Stacks JournalPeer-reviewed research - An initial assessment of risk to pollinators from mosquito control in residential settings

22 Dec 2025

Huh. No image preview? Well, here's one:

Charley Eiseman reposted

Emily May

@emtomology.bsky.social

18 Dec 2025

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.

Okay, another one from the same series, which mysteriously has the same date but clearly "90" rather than "91"... but my main question is, cranberry *what*? Oh, I see--"Tortrix."

Andy Revkin 🌎 ✍🏼 🪕 ☮️ revkin.substack.com

There is another specimen with the same Murtfeldt label, and it unambiguously says "NJ." It also clearly says "8/20.91", which makes me think the first one says "8/24.91" and not "6/24.91" as I originally thought.

Charley Eiseman reposted

@revkin.bsky.social

3 Dec 2025

Replying to @revkin.bsky.social

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

5 Dec 2025

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.

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington.bsky.social

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...

inaturalist.orgGenus CamerariaCameraria from Greenville County, SC, USA on June 20, 2025 at 03:36 PM by Grace Merkert

27 Nov 2025

Wondering who would cut 30 semicircular slits into the upper epidermis of a Cameraria leaf mine, and why... www.inaturalist.org/observations...

bugtracks.wordpress.comThat 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…

9 Nov 2025

I've got your 2026 Leafminers of North America wall calendars right here!

8 Nov 2025

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.

7 Nov 2025

Ah yes, "gall nuts," the common name universally used for the genus Quercus...

bugtracks.wordpress.comAnother 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 …

25 Oct 2025

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:

bugtracks.wordpress.comFalse Hellebore FaunaFor 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…

22 Oct 2025

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.