Biology of the Leaf Miners

Abstract

In this book, a comprehensive account is given of the general biology of insect larvae that feed by mining in the leaves of plants, based largely on work in Europe. The information oh the mines includes descriptions of their structure, a classification based on shape and a discussion of their relation to mines in other parte of the plant. General descriptions of the immature stages of leaf-mining insects of the four orders chiefly involved and of the mines characteristic of them are given in one chapter, another deals with adaptations in larval morphology related to the specialised habitat, a third with the general life-history of leaf-mining insects, and others with individual aspects of behaviour and development, including the disposal of frass, migration from leaf to leaf, the selection of plant tissues, organs and species for food, changes in the feeding habits that occur normally during development or in response to abnormal conditions, competition between larvae occupying the same leaf, and the extent to which climatic and other factors effect development. Separate chapters are devoted to larvae that mine in leaves during only part of their development or that make mines of different shapes at different stages, case-bearing larvae that also mine, and larvae that mine in aquatic plants, and there is also one on the natural enemies of leaf-miners. The colour and growth changes induced in mined leaves are described, the changes that occur in the mines after the larvae have left them are discussed, and a general account is given of the economic importance of leaf-miners. Instructions are included for collecting and preserving leaf mines and for breeding and identifying leaf-miners, and the lines along which future research is desirable are indicated.