Leaf miners

Leaf miners
mining larvae of Phytomyza ilicis
Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta) Order : Fly (Diptera) Subordination : Flies (Brachycera) Partial order : Muscomorpha Superfamily : Opomyzoidea Family : Leaf miners
Scientific name
Agromyzidae
Fallén , 1810
Subfamilies
Agromyzinae Phytomyzinae

Play media file

A leaf miner fly ( Melanagromyza sp.) Lays eggs in the stalk of field chervil . (Video, 1m 38s)

The leaf miners (Agromyzidae) are a family of the two-winged (Diptera) and belong to the suborder of the flies (Brachycera).

description

The adults are very small and are only about two to three millimeters long. They feed on plant juices, which they suck out of leaves through punctures. The yellowish white larvae of this family of flies, which like all two-winged larvae ( maggots ) have no head capsule and legs, are leaf miners . They live endophytically in leaves and other parts of plants and eat them up without damaging their outer skin. Depending on the species, the feeding patterns differ in gang, spiral, bubble or space mines. The female adults have an ovipositor . Many species in this family lend themselves well to biological and ecological studies.

Numerous species in this family are of economic importance, as they develop very quickly (some species in just four days) and can cause damage in large numbers. This mainly concerns the species of the genera Liriomyza and Phytomyza . The fully developed larvae pupate either in or outside of their mines or fall to the ground. Their natural enemies in Central Europe include parasitic wasps such as B. Dacnusa sibirica and Diglyphus isaea .

Occurrence

The leaf miner flies are distributed around the world with around 3,000 species. About 350 species occur in Central Europe . In Europe, a total of 906 species and subspecies belong to this family.

Fossil evidence

Numerous fossil findings on this family are solely due to traces of eating ( Ichnofossils ) and are therefore to be regarded as provisional until the associated adults or larvae are found. All finds are of tertiary age ( Paleocene to Pliocene ). The species originally described from Eocene Baltic amber as members of this family are now assigned to other families without exception. Representatives of the Agromyzidae are found in Mexican and Dominican amber (both deposits are predominantly Miocene in age).

Genera (Europe only)

• Agromyzidae
  • Agromyzinae
    • Agromyza
      • Agromyza graminicola
      • Agromyza nana
    • Hexomyza
    • Japanagromyza
    • Melanagromyza
    • Ophiomyia
      • Asparagus leaf miner ( Ophiomyia simplex )
  • Phytomyzinae
    • Amauromyza
    • Aulagromyza
    • Calycomyza
    • Cerodontha
    • Chromatomyia
    • Galiomyza
    • Gymnophytomyza
    • Liriomyza
      • Lily leaf miner fly ( Liriomyza urophorina )
    • Metopomyza
    • Napomyza
    • Nemorimyza
    • Phytobia
    • Phytoliriomyza
    • Phytomyza
    • Pseudonapomyza
    • Ptochomyza
    • Selachops
    • Xeniomyza

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Fam.Agromyzidae leaf miners ( Memento from July 4, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (August 7, 2006)
2. ↑ http://www.bio-gaertner.de/Articles/II.Pflanzen-allgemeineHinweise/Schaedlinge/Minierfliegen.html www.bio-gaertner.de (August 7, 2006)
3. ↑ Fauna Europaea Web Service (2004) Fauna Europaea version 1.1, Available online at http://www.faunaeur.org/ (August 7, 2006)
4. ↑ George O. Poinar, Jr .: Life in Amber . 350 pp., 147 figs., 10 plates, Stanford University Press, Stanford (Cal.) 1992. ISBN 0-8047-2001-0
5. ↑ http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/fossilcat/fossagromyzidae.html fossil Diptera

Web links

Commons : Leaf miners  - Collection of images, videos and audio files