Leaf miner

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Leaf miner damage to a horse chestnut tree Cameraria ohridella 150893811.jpg
Leaf miner damage to a horse chestnut tree
Leaf with minor miner damage Leaf mining.jpg
Leaf with minor miner damage
Tomato with leaf miner damage Leaf-miner-tomato.jpg
Tomato with leaf miner damage
Leaf mines by the moth Phyllocnistis hyperpersea on a Persea borbonia leaf. The red arrow indicates the pupal crypt. Phyllocnistis hyperpersea mine.JPG
Leaf mines by the moth Phyllocnistis hyperpersea on a Persea borbonia leaf. The red arrow indicates the pupal crypt.
Leaf miner trail on a fallen leaf in a Gondwana cool temperate rainforest. Note the initial thin width of the insect trail, becoming wider as the insect grows while it navigates around the leaf. Cryptocarya foveolata from Cobark Park, Barrington Tops, Australia Cryptocarya foveolata from Cobark Park Barrington Tops.jpg
Leaf miner trail on a fallen leaf in a Gondwana cool temperate rainforest. Note the initial thin width of the insect trail, becoming wider as the insect grows while it navigates around the leaf. Cryptocarya foveolata from Cobark Park, Barrington Tops, Australia


A leaf miner is a larval stage of various insect species that live and feed within the tissues of a plants leaves. The term does not describe a single taxonomic group, but rather a feeding behavior known as "leaf mining" that has evolved independently across several insect orders. Leaf miners are considered both ecologically significant and economically important because of their role in ecosystems and their impact on agriculture and horticulture. Leaf miners consume the inner tissues of leaves while leaving the outer epidermal layers largely intact. This results in distinctive patterns or "mines" on the leaves, which can appear as winding trails, blotches, or tunnels. Leaf mining is an ancient ecological strategy that has been employed by insect larvae since at least the beginning of the Permian period, around 295 million years ago. [1]

Contents

Taxonomy

Leaf mining behavior is observed in multiple insect groups, including:

Each group contains numerous species with larvae that are specialized for leaf-mining on their preferred host plants.

Life cycle

Adult leaf mining insects typically lay eggs on or within the surface of a host plants leaf. When the larvae hatch, they burrow into the leaf and begin feeding between the epidermal layers. Much like woodboring beetles, leaf miners are protected from many predators while feeding within the tissues of the leaves, [3] selectively eating only the layers that have the least amount of cellulose. After completing larval development, the insect pupates either inside the mine, on the leaf surface of the leaf or within the soil below the host plant depending on the species. Emerging adult insects can then continue their cycle.

Plant defenses

Plants have developed a variety of defense strategies to reduce damage from leaf miners. These defenses can be structural, chemical, or physiological and may act either directly against the larvae or indirectly by attracting natural enemies.

Structural defenses

Chemical defenses

Physiological responses

Identification

The pattern of the feeding tunnel and the layer of the leaf being mined is often diagnostic of the insect responsible, sometimes even to species level. The mine often contains frass, or droppings, and the pattern of frass deposition, mine shape, and host plant identity are useful to determine the species and instar of the leaf miner. Some mining insects feed in other parts of a plant, such as the surface of a fruit or the petal of a flower.

Relationship with humans

Horse-chestnut leaf miner (adult) Cameraria ohridella 8419.jpg
Horse-chestnut leaf miner (adult)

Leaf miners are regarded as pests by many farmers and gardeners as they can cause damage to agricultural crops and garden plants, and can be difficult to control with insecticide sprays as they are protected inside the plant's leaves. Spraying the infected plants with spinosad, an organic insecticide, can control some leaf miners. Spinosad does not kill on contact and must be ingested by the leaf miner. Two or three applications may be required in a season. However, this will have harmful ecological effects, especially if sprayed when bees or other beneficial arthropods are present. [13] [14]

Leaf miner infection of crops can be reduced or prevented by planting trap crops near the plants to be protected. For example, lambsquarter and columbine will distract leaf miners, drawing them to those plants and therefore reducing the incidence of attack on nearby crops. This is a method of companion planting. [15]

Phyllocnistis magnoliella in magnolia leaf. Phyllocnistis magnoliella caterpillar. leaf mine.jpg
Phyllocnistis magnoliella in magnolia leaf.

See also

References

  1. Laaß, Michael; Luthardt, Ludwig; Trümper, Steffen; Leipner, Angelika; Hauschke, Norbert; Rößler, Ronny (2025-08-25). "Host-specific leaf-mining behaviour of holometabolous insect larvae in the early Permian". Scientific Reports. 15 (1). doi:10.1038/s41598-025-15413-x. ISSN   2045-2322. PMC   12378220 . PMID   40855100.
  2. Świętojańska, Jolanta & Borowiec, Lech & Stach, Małgorzata. (2014). Redescription of immatures and bionomy of the Palaearctic species Dicladispa testacea (Linnaeus, 1767) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae: Hispini), a leaf-mining hispine beetle. Zootaxa. 3811. 1-33. 10.11646/zootaxa.3811.1.1.
  3. Connor, Edward & Taverner, Melissa. (1997). The Evolution and Adaptive Significance of the Leaf-Mining Habit. Oikos. 79. 6. 10.2307/3546085.
  4. Faeth, Stanely H. (2025-09-22). "Novel Aspects of Host Tree Resistance to Leafminers" (PDF). United States Forest Service Northern Research Station. Retrieved 2025-09-22.
  5. Nawaz R, Abbasi NA, Hafiz IA, Khan MF, Khalid A. Environmental variables influence the developmental stages of the citrus leafminer, infestation level and mined leaves physiological response of Kinnow mandarin. Sci Rep. 2021;11(1):7720. Published 2021 Apr 8. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-87160-8
  6. 1 2 Hawthorne, D. J., J. A. Shapiro, W. M. Tingey, and M. A. Mutschler. 1992. "Trichome-Borne and Artificially Applied Acylsugars of Wild Tomato Deter Feeding and Oviposition of the Leafminer Liriomyza trifolii." Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 65 (1): 65–73. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1570-7458.1992.tb01628.x.
  7. Walker, Matt (19 June 2009). "The plant that pretends to be ill". BBC News. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  8. Soltau, U.; Dötterl, S.; Liede-Schumann, S. (2009). "Leaf variegation in Caladium steudneriifolium (Araceae) – A case of mimicry?". Evolutionary Ecology. 23 (4): 503–512. doi:10.1007/s10682-008-9248-2. S2CID   5033305.
  9. Materska, M., Pabich, M., Sachadyn-Król, M., Konarska, A., Weryszko-Chmielewska, E., Chilczuk, B., Staszowska-Karkut, M., Jackowska, I., & Dmitruk, M. (2022). The Secondary Metabolites Profile in Horse Chestnut Leaves Infested with Horse-Chestnut Leaf Miner. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland), 27(17), 5471. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27175471
  10. Faeth, Stanley H., and Thomas L. Bultman. 1986. "Interacting Effects of Increased Tannin Levels on Leaf-Mining Insects." Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 40 (3): 297–301. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1570-7458.1986.tb00515.x
  11. Ferracini, Chiara, Paolo Curir, Marcello Dolci, Virginia Lanzotti, and Alberto Alma. 2010. "Aesculus pavia Foliar Saponins: Defensive Role against the Leafminer Cameraria ohridella." Pest Management Science 66 (4): 399–405. https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.1940
  12. Preszler, Ralph W., and Peter W. Price. 1993. "The Influence of Salix Leaf Abscission on Leaf-Miner Survival and Life History." Ecological Entomology 18 (2): 150–154. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2311.1993.tb01196.x
  13. Tomé, Hudson Vaner; Barbosa, Wagner; Martins, Gustavo F.; Guedes, Raul Narciso (2015). "Spinosad in the native stingless bee Melipona quadrifasciata: Regrettable non-target toxicity of a bioinsecticide" . Chemosphere. 124: 105–109. Bibcode:2015Chmsp.124..103T. doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2014.11.038. PMID   25496737 . Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  14. Pasquet, Alain; Tupiner, Nora; Mazzia, Christophe; Capowiez, Yvan (August 25, 2015). "Exposure to spinosad affects orb-web spider (Agalenatea redii) survival, web construction and prey capture under laboratory conditions". Journal of Pest Science. 89 (2): 507–515. doi:10.1007/s10340-015-0691-x. S2CID   6156257 . Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  15. "Companion planting and trap cropping vegetables". University of Minnesota Extension. Archived from the original on 2021-09-04. Retrieved 2021-09-04.