The Agromyzidae are a

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

of flies, commonly referred to as the leaf-miner flies for the feeding habits of their

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

e, most of which are

leaf miner A leaf miner is any one of numerous species of insects in which the larval stage lives in, and eats, the leaf tissue of plants. The vast majority of leaf-mining insects are moths (Lepidoptera), sawflies (Symphyta, a paraphyletic group which ...

s on various plants. It includes roughly 2,500 species, they are small, some with wing length of 1 mm. The maximum size is 6.5 mm. Most species are in the range of 2 to 3 mm.

General description

Adult agromyzids can be recognized by the distinctive

sclerotization Sclerotization is a biochemical process that produces the rigid shell of sclerotin that comprises an insect's chitinous exoskeleton. It is prominent in the thicker, armored parts of insects and arachnid Arachnids are arthropods in the Class (b ...

of the head. The upper part of the frons, above the ptilinal suture (known as the frontal vitta) is lightly sclerotized and lacks

seta In biology, setae (; seta ; ) are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms. Animal setae Protostomes Depending partly on their form and function, protostome setae may be called macrotrichia, chaetae, ...

e, while the lower part of the frons and the dorsal area of the head tends to be much more heavily sclerotized and setaceous. Thus, the frontal vitta often forms a distinctive patch on the head, different in colour and texture from the rest of the head. The

compound eye A compound eye is a Eye, visual organ found in arthropods such as insects and crustaceans. It may consist of thousands of ommatidium, ommatidia, which are tiny independent photoreception units that consist of a cornea, lens (anatomy), lens, and p ...

s are usually oval and fairly small, although in some species, they are larger and more circular. Phytomyza ilicis IMG 0145 1280

The wings are usually

hyaline A hyaline substance is one with a glassy appearance. The word is derived from , and . Histopathology Hyaline cartilage is named after its glassy appearance on fresh gross pathology. On light microscopy of H&E stained slides, the extracellula ...

, although those of a few tropical species have darker markings. A few species, including all '' Agromyza'' spp., are capable of

stridulation Stridulation is the act of producing sound by rubbing together certain body parts. This behavior is mostly associated with insects, but other animals are known to do this as well, such as a number of species of fish, snakes and spiders. The mech ...

, possessing a "file" on the first

abdominal The abdomen (colloquially called the gut, belly, tummy, midriff, tucky, or stomach) is the front part of the torso between the thorax (chest) and pelvis in humans and in other vertebrates. The area occupied by the abdomen is called the abdominal ...

segment and a "scraper" on the hind

femur The femur (; : femurs or femora ), or thigh bone is the only long bone, bone in the thigh — the region of the lower limb between the hip and the knee. In many quadrupeds, four-legged animals the femur is the upper bone of the hindleg. The Femo ...

. The family Agromyzidae is commonly referred to as the leaf-miner flies, for the feeding habits of their

e, most of which are

s on various plants. AgromyzidaeWalkerBI

Technical description

For terms see

Morphology of Diptera Dipteran morphology differs in some significant ways from the broader insect morphology, morphology of insects. The Diptera is a very large and diverse Order (biology), order of mostly small to medium-sized insects. They have prominent compound ey ...

.
These are small, sometimes minute, flies, at most 0.9 to 6.0 mm in length. The body is usually short, and the thorax has a rectangular profile, with a well-developed humeral callus. The abdomen is broad and the legs are short. The thorax and abdomen are often light grey, rarely dark, but may be yellow, green, blue-green, and variably coppery or metallic. The wings are equal in length to the body or slightly longer. Wings have the lower calypter much reduced or absent. The chaetotaxy is well developed, especially on the head. The postvertical orbital bristles on the head are always present and divergent, inner and outer vertical bristles on the head are well developed. They have ocellar bristles, frontal bristles (two to eight pairs of frontal bristles, the lower one to three pairs curve inward, the other pairs backward), vibrissae (in some cases weakly developed), and oral bristles are always present. Interfrontal bristles are absent, but interfrontal setulae are sometimes present. The basal segment of the antennae is very short; the second antennal segment is not grooved. The third antennal segment is always large, usually round (not elongated but sometimes with a sharp point) and usually with swollen, and the almost bare or pubescent arista never is plumose. The face in lateral view is not deeply excavated between the antennae and the edge of the mouth. The ptilinal suture is clearly defined. The mouthparts are functional. The proboscis is usually short and thick, rarely elongated and geniculated (''Ophiomyia''). The maxillary palps are single-segmented and porrect. The thorax is without a continuous dorsal suture and without well-defined posterior calli. The thorax has well-developed dorsocentral bristles, posterior bristles, supra-alar bristles, and acrostichal and intra-alar bristles. The scutellum has two to four bristles. On each side of the thorax is a humeral bristle and one or two notopleural bristles. In describing the bristles of the thorax (dorsocentral bristles and acrostichal), a formula is used in which the first number indicates the postsutural ones, and the second number, following a plus (+) or minus (−) sign the presutural. A few bristles are on the legs, but bristles on tibia 2, are of taxonomic significance. Tibiae are without a dorsal preapical bristle. Hind tibiae are without strong bristles in the basal 4/5. The front femora are without a conspicuous spine beneath. The wing venation usually exhibits first and second basal, anal, and discal cells but may lack one or more of the cells. Wings have a discal cell, or are without a discal cell; without a subapical cell. The anal cell is very short and closed. The costa has one break which is at the end of the subcosta. The subcosta is apparent (faint) and joins vein 1 well short of the costa, or terminates before it (vein Sc is complete or incomplete, apically ending in vein R1 (Agromyzinae) or separate from vein R1, but reduced to a fold that may or may not reach the costa (Phytomyzinae)); . Wing vein 4 extends far beyond the end of the first basal cell. Wing vein 6 is present, falling short of the wing margin. Wing venation is shown in the gallery. The abdomen is moderately long and consists of six segments and with a coating of short pubescence well-developed at some places. The female has an elongated telescopic ovipositor, which in the resting position is retracted into the elongated tergite 7, often called the ovipositor. (Female with oviscape, nonretractable basal segment of the ovipositor). File:Agromyzinae wing veins.svg, Agromyzinae wing veins File:Phytomyzinae wing veins-1.svg, Phytomyzinae wing veins (with discal cell) File:Phytomyzinae wing veins-2.svg, Phytomyzinae wing veins (without discal cell) The egg is oval-shaped, white or yellowish. The larva is apodous, cylindrical and tapering at both ends. The length of the last instar larva is, as a rule, in the order of 2–3 mm. The tracheal system is metapneustic in the first instar early age and amphipneustic in the subsequent stages. The pupa is variable, from barrel shaped, to a more elongated shape. The outer surface can segmentation and is more or less smooth or wrinkled. The color varies from black to brown to yellowish white.

Biology

Agromyzidae larvae are

phytophagous A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet (nutrition), diet. These more broadly also encompass an ...

, feeding as leaf miners, less frequently as stem miners or stem borers. A few live on developing seeds, or produce

galls Galls (from the Latin , 'oak-apple') or ''cecidia'' (from the Greek , anything gushing out) are a kind of swelling growth on the external tissues of plants. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues, similar to benign tumors or wart ...

. Sometimes larvae in roots or under bark. The biology of many species is as yet unknown. There is a high degree of

host specificity In biology and medicine, a host is a larger organism that harbours a smaller organism; whether a parasitic, a mutualistic, or a commensalist ''guest'' (symbiont). The guest is typically provided with nourishment and shelter. Examples include ...

, an example being '' Phytomyza ilicis'', the European holly leaf miner that feeds on no other species. Some Agromyzidae are quarantine species in many countries. '' Liriomyza huidobrensis'', '' Liriomyza sativae'' and '' Liriomyza trifolii'' are examples. A number of species attack plants of agricultural or ornamental value, so are considered pests. These insects are very important to agronomy by the direct damage that they cause, particularly on young plants, the leaf of which may, for example, be completely destroyed. By their nutritional bites females of some species are able to inoculate pathogenic fungi, or to transmit viruses. About 10% of the species of Agromyzidae are considered pests. The most important pest genera are '' Agromyza'', '' Melanagromyza'', ''

Ophiomyia ''Ophiomyia'' is a genus of Fly, flies in the family Agromyzidae. In West Africa, the larvae of various species, such as ''Ophiomyia spencerella'', ''Ophiomyia phaseola'', and ''Ophiomyia centrosematis'', are pests of cultivated bean crops. Spe ...

'', '' Liriomyza'', '' Napomyza'' and '' Phytomyza''. For examples of pest species see Asparagus miner (''Ophiomyia simplex''), '' Chromatomyia horticola'', Serpentine leaf miner (''Liriomyza brassicae''), and American serpentine leaf miner (''Liriomyza trifolii)''. Some 110 species are known to occur on cultivated plants. A number of species are of particular importance, especially ''Liriomyza'' and ''Ophiomyia'' species. Larvae of species in the genera ''Liriomyza'' and ''Phytomyza'' are extremely polyphagous (they attack many different species of plants). A long imaginal aestivation and hibernation period is an uncommon overwintering strategy among agromyzid flies. The shape of the mine is often characteristic of the species and therefore useful for identification. For some of the serpentine leaf miners it is possible to use the mine to indicate the instar of the animal that made it, and in some cases its cause of death. Polytene chromosomes can be isolated from some agromyzid larvae. Adults occur in a variety of habitats, depending on the larval host plants.

Identification

Morphological similarity makes identification difficult, and

DNA barcoding DNA barcoding is a method of species identification using a short section of DNA from a specific gene or genes. The premise of DNA barcoding is that by comparison with a reference library of such DNA sections (also called " sequences"), an indiv ...

is increasingly used to identify species.

Genera

List of genera according to

Catalogue of Life The Catalogue of Life (CoL) is an online database that provides an index of known species of animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms. It was created in 2001 as a partnership between the global Species 2000 and the American Integrated Taxono ...

* '' Agromyza'' * '' Amauromyza'' * '' Aulagromyza'' * '' Calycomyza'' * '' Cerodontha'' * '' Chromatomyia'' * '' Euhexomyza'' Lonsdale, 2014 * '' Gymnophytomyza'' * '' Haplopeodes'' * '' Indonapomyza'' * '' Japanagromyza'' * '' Kleinschmidtimyia'' * '' Liriomyza'' * '' Melanagromyza'' * '' Metopomyza'' * '' Napomyza'' * '' Nemorimyza'' * ''

'' * '' Penetagromyza'' * '' Phytobia'' * '' Phytoliriomyza'' * '' Phytomyza'' * '' Pseudoliriomyza'' * '' Pseudonapomyza'' * '' Ptochomyza'' * '' Selachops'' * '' Tropicomyia'' * '' Xeniomyza''

Phylogeny

References

External links

Agromyzidae of the World
*

Encyclopedia of Life The Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) is a free, online encyclopedia intended to document all of the 1.9 million living species known to science. It aggregates content to form "pages" for every known species. Content is compiled from existing trusted ...

World tax
list and images

Agromyzidae Taxonomy Site

Images at BugGuide

British (and Europe) leafminers

Images representing Agromyzidae
at Bold.

Species lists

West Palaearctic including Russia

Japan
{{Authority control Agricultural pest insects Insect vectors of plant pathogens Brachycera families Taxa named by Carl Fredrik Fallén Articles containing video clips Leaf miners