---

Animalia >Arthropoda >Insecta >Diptera >Agromyzidae >Liriomyza >

Leaf-mining flies are small flies you can find anywhere. Flies lay eggs on plant leaves. Hatched larvae feed on leaf tissue internally and leave meandering tunnels behind. Leaf-mining flies, thus, are hard-to-control pests for gardeners and farmers. Adults of the leaf-mining fly Liriomyza trifolii have a very peculiar feeding habit. Herbivorous insects in general feed on leaves by scraping leaf surfaces with the mouth or sucking leaf sap with the proboscis. In contrast, females of this fly species dig a hole on leaf surface and destroy internal plant tissue with the extended ovipositor. Females then lick the sap welling through the hole. This observation raises one question: how males of L. trifolii, which do not have an ovipositor, feed? The answer is simple: males follow females and get portions of the leaf sap. They even copulate with females at the same time. It is unknown whether females are releasing pheromones. (translated by Asoh)

(Data No.momo050306ln01b)

Copyrights belong to author.
Read Terms of Service carefully

>>Japanese

[Database Home]