Charley Eiseman
@ceiseman.bsky.social
Freelance naturalist, especially into leafminers, sawfly larvae, and other underappreciated herbivorous insects | http://bugtracks.wordpress.com
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...
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.
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?
The label goes with this mating pair of Antispila nysaefoliella, collected in the late 1800s by William Dietz.
July 23, 2025 at 11:38 PM
The label goes with this mating pair of Antispila nysaefoliella, collected in the late 1800s by William Dietz.
Any guesses what this says?
July 23, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Any guesses what this says?
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?
Just escorted this redstart out of my garage.
July 9, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Just escorted this redstart out of my garage.
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.
Here's an adult I reared from a similar mine I collected in Kansas ten years ago.
June 18, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Here's an adult I reared from a similar mine I collected in Kansas ten years ago.
Going a little overboard illustrating my paper on rearing records for eulophid wasps. Here are females (left) and males of Chrysocharis polita, C. polyzo, C. prodice, and C. pubicornis, all reared from leafminers. Each is about 1 mm long.
April 6, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Going a little overboard illustrating my paper on rearing records for eulophid wasps. Here are females (left) and males of Chrysocharis polita, C. polyzo, C. prodice, and C. pubicornis, all reared from leafminers. Each is about 1 mm long.
Found a dead moth in a cryptically labelled bag of leaves yesterday and decided to use it for dissection practice. It appears to be the "batman moth" (Tortricidae: Coelostathma discopunctana); no idea where it came from.
February 20, 2025 at 2:24 AM
Found a dead moth in a cryptically labelled bag of leaves yesterday and decided to use it for dissection practice. It appears to be the "batman moth" (Tortricidae: Coelostathma discopunctana); no idea where it came from.
Thought this was a nice scene: an orbweaver (probably Araniella displicata) has spun its web across the gap in a scrub oak leaf produced by a caterpillar's feeding, and there are some Coptodisca leaf mines at upper right (one aborted, one with feeding larva, and one with pupal case already cut out).
January 15, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Thought this was a nice scene: an orbweaver (probably Araniella displicata) has spun its web across the gap in a scrub oak leaf produced by a caterpillar's feeding, and there are some Coptodisca leaf mines at upper right (one aborted, one with feeding larva, and one with pupal case already cut out).
Comparison of the nondescript (but consistently distinguishable) blotch mines of Cameraria (a gracillariid moth, L) and Profenusa (a tenthredinid sawfly, R) on scrub oak. If you look closely there's also a mine of another moth at the edge of the left leaf (Nepticulidae: Stigmella saginella group).
January 14, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Comparison of the nondescript (but consistently distinguishable) blotch mines of Cameraria (a gracillariid moth, L) and Profenusa (a tenthredinid sawfly, R) on scrub oak. If you look closely there's also a mine of another moth at the edge of the left leaf (Nepticulidae: Stigmella saginella group).
Hard to capture with a phone, but one of my very favorite things is the way some gall midges (Cecidomyiidae) like to hang by their front legs from spider webs.
December 30, 2024 at 9:42 PM
Hard to capture with a phone, but one of my very favorite things is the way some gall midges (Cecidomyiidae) like to hang by their front legs from spider webs.
Dolerus sp. sawfly larva munching on field horsetail (Equisetum arvense), 8/16/2024.
December 29, 2024 at 3:49 PM
Dolerus sp. sawfly larva munching on field horsetail (Equisetum arvense), 8/16/2024.
Evening dewdrops on jewelweed (Impatiens capensis), 8/14/2024.
December 28, 2024 at 8:13 PM
Evening dewdrops on jewelweed (Impatiens capensis), 8/14/2024.
This looks like a cozy place to live: a gall of Phylloteras poculum (Cynipidae) on dwarf chestnut oak (Quercus prinoides). This wasp was originally described as a midge (Cecidomyia poculum), back when you could get away with describing a species based only on the gall it causes. Those were the days.
December 22, 2024 at 10:12 PM
This looks like a cozy place to live: a gall of Phylloteras poculum (Cynipidae) on dwarf chestnut oak (Quercus prinoides). This wasp was originally described as a midge (Cecidomyia poculum), back when you could get away with describing a species based only on the gall it causes. Those were the days.
Some more mutants. Partridgeberry (Rubiaceae: Mitchella repens) normally has four-petaled flowers in pairs (giving rise to a single fruit), but here are two views of a single five-petaled flower, and one of a single seven-petaled flower.
December 20, 2024 at 9:42 PM
Some more mutants. Partridgeberry (Rubiaceae: Mitchella repens) normally has four-petaled flowers in pairs (giving rise to a single fruit), but here are two views of a single five-petaled flower, and one of a single seven-petaled flower.
A mutant intermediate wood fern (Dryopteris intermedia).
December 16, 2024 at 3:06 PM
A mutant intermediate wood fern (Dryopteris intermedia).
Sawfly eggs on a gray birch leaf, found in my yard back in May.
December 13, 2024 at 9:15 PM
Sawfly eggs on a gray birch leaf, found in my yard back in May.
Here's one of the adult wasps that emerged the following spring.
December 11, 2024 at 4:15 PM
Here's one of the adult wasps that emerged the following spring.
Each eulophid larva saved up all of its poop until it was done feeding inside the moth larva, then popped out and used its meconium to construct a series of pillars that separate the ceiling and floor of the mine, protecting the pupa from getting crushed by the leaf as it dries.
December 11, 2024 at 4:14 PM
Each eulophid larva saved up all of its poop until it was done feeding inside the moth larva, then popped out and used its meconium to construct a series of pillars that separate the ceiling and floor of the mine, protecting the pupa from getting crushed by the leaf as it dries.
Things you can do with your poop when you live inside an oak leaf. The big, circular spot is where a Cameraria larva deposited all of its frass throughout its life, and it would have spun its cocoon there, had it not been parasitized by four eulophid larvae, whose pupae are along the perimeter...
December 11, 2024 at 4:10 PM
Things you can do with your poop when you live inside an oak leaf. The big, circular spot is where a Cameraria larva deposited all of its frass throughout its life, and it would have spun its cocoon there, had it not been parasitized by four eulophid larvae, whose pupae are along the perimeter...
First North American record of Australopericoma dissimilis (Psychodidae), and presumably the first live photo of this species too.
December 8, 2024 at 6:31 PM
First North American record of Australopericoma dissimilis (Psychodidae), and presumably the first live photo of this species too.