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Photo#1396444
Leafminer, Veronica - Metriocnemus erythranthei

Leafminer, Veronica - Metriocnemus erythranthei
Twin Springs Park, Winneshiek County, Iowa, USA
June 12, 2017
06/11/17 Along a spring-fed creek, searching a big stand of watercress for insect life (there's gotta be something eating it, right?), I don't find anything on the watercress, but hey, something's mining the leaves of this other water plant...
Collected stem with leaves attached for rearing

Batch rearing

I brought a sample of the plant to my dad, who was able to identify it as a species of Veronica, apparently V. anagallis-aquatica, an exotic.

06/12/17 Leaf and larva photos taken, including this series showing one of the larvae in its mine:



~06/20/17 A fruit fly emerges...



~06/21/17 ...and then two smaller flies:



Charley Eiseman reared a whole group of organisms, including fruit flies and fungus gnats, from mines in leaves of marsh marigold. His fruit fly was Scaptomyza pallida and his fungus gnats were sciarids, specifically a new species that Charley named Zygoneura calthella. While out and about in wild places this season, I'm noticing leafminers...and I blame Charley!

Moved

Moved
Moved from Bryophaenocladius.

Moved

Moved
Moved from Flies.

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