Summary
Leaf-mining Stilbosis quadricustatella larvae are distributed non-randomly within leaves of their host plants, sand live oak (Quercus geminata) and water oak (Q. nigra), in north Florida. Fewer mines are found together on the same side of the mid-vein than separated, on opposite sides of the mid-vein. Larvae do not normally cross the mid-vein but create small blotch-like mines along subsidiary veins. Investigations of the usual mortality factors acting on these leaf-miner populations, including competition, parasitism, and predation, revealed no significant differences in these factors between mines separated by the mid-vein and those on the same side of the leaf. However, early leaf abscission, which kills the larvae present in the leaf, occurs significantly more frequently in cases where larvae are clustered on one leaf side. The reasons for this differential leaf abscission are not yet clear.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Addicott FT (1982) Abscission. University of California Press, Berkeley
Askew RR, Shaw MR (1979) Mortality factors affecting the leafmining stages of Phyllonorycter (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) on oak and birch. 1. Analysis of the mortality factors. Zool J Linn Soc 67:31–49
Bateman DF, Basham HG (1976) In: Tukey HB (ed) Plant regulators in agriculture. Wiley, New York, pp 117–131
Bultman TL, Faeth SH (1986) Selective oviposition by a leaf miner in response to temporal variation in abscission. Oecologia (Berlin) 64:117–120
Carter W (1939) Injuries to plants caused by insect toxins. Bot Rev 5:273–326
Condrashoff SF (1964) Bionomics of the aspen leaf miner, Phyllocnistis populiella Cham. (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae). Can Ent 96:857–875
Faeth SH (1980) Invertebrate predation of leaf miners at low densities. Ecol Entomol 5:111–114
Faeth SH, Connor EF, Simberloff D (1981) Early leaf abscission: A neglected source of mortality for folivores. Am Nat 117:409–415
Hendrickson RM Jr, Dysart RJ (1983) Leaflet abscission caused by alfalfa blotch leafminer (Diptera: Agromyzidae). J Econ Entomol 76:1075–1079
King EE (1973) Endo-polymethylgalacturonase of boll weevil larvae, Anthonomus grandis: an initiator of cotton flower bud abscission. J Insect Physiol 19:2433–2437
Maier CT (1983) Effect of the apple blotch leafminer (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) on apple leaf abscission. J Econ Entomol 76:1265–1268
Martin JL (1956) The bionomics of the Aspen blotch miner, Lithocolletis salicifoliella Chan. (Lep. Gracillariidae). Can Entomol 88:155–168
Mopper S, Faeth SH, Boecklen WJ, Simberloff DS (1984) Hostspecific variation in leaf miner population dynamics: effects on density, natural enemies and behaviour of Stilbosis quadriscustatella (Lep. Cosmopterigidae). Ecol Entomol 9:169–177
Murai M (1974) Studies on the interference among larvae of the citrus leaf miner, Phyllocnistis citrella Stainton (Lepidoptera: Phyllocnistidae). Res Popul Ecol 16:80–111
Polajaev V (1934) The struggle for existence of the poplar moth (Lithocolletis populifoliella Tr.). Zool J 13:485–506
Potter DA (1985) Population regulation of the native holly leafminer, Phytomyza ilicicola Loew (Diptera: Agromyzidae) on American holly. Oecologia (Berlin) 66:499–505
Pritchard IM, James R (1984) Leaf fall as a source of leaf miner mortality. Oecologia (Berlin) 64:140–141
Reissig WH, Weires RW, Forshey CG (1982) Effects of gracillariid leafminers on apple tree growth and production. Environ Entomol 11:953–963
Stiling PD, Strong DR (1983) Weak competition among Spartina stem borers, by means of murder. Ecology 64:770–778
Stiling PD, Brodbeck B, Strong DR (1984) Intraspecific competition on Hydrellia valida (Diptera: Ephydridae), a leaf miner of Spartina alterniflora. Ecology 65:660–662
Williams AG, Whitham TG (1986) Premature leaf abscission: an induced plant defense against gall aphids. Ecology 67:1619–1627
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Stiling, P.D., Simberloff, D. & Anderson, L.C. Non-random distribution patterns of leaf miners on oak trees. Oecologia 73, 116–119 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00376986
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00376986