Mystery mines on Cape-ivy (Delairea odorata )

Here's another one I'm really hoping someone can collect and rear. The South African moth Digitivalva delaireae is being considered as a potential biological control agent for Cape-ivy in California and Oregon, but meanwhile people have been regularly observing some native(?) leafminer on this plant, and no one knows what it is. There is typically a roughly circular brown spot at the beginning, where the mine is apparently contorted or forms a tight spiral, and this suggests to me that the fly is something other than just one of the polyphagous Liriomyza species that are common in southern California. Although mines have been observed in just about every month of the year, the only one with a larva inside was found on April 11 in Marin County.

@thetorterra, Santa Cruz Co., 1/16/2022

@manidae, Los Angeles Co., 3/28/2020

@marionanoiram, Marin Co., 4/11/2016 [larva present]

@nealkelso, San Francisco Co., 4/24/2021

@garth_harwood, San Mateo Co., 6/4/2020

@sea-kangaroo & @leslie_flint, San Mateo Co., 6/16/2019

@silversea_starsong, Orange Co., 7/4/2021

@ctrubo, Los Angeles Co., 7/18/2022

@cynestor, Santa Barbara Co., 7/23/2022

@dlbowls, San Luis Obispo Co., 8/9/2021

@cynestor, Ventura Co., 8/27/2022

@esppim, San Francisco Co., 8/31/2021

@sea-kangaroo, Monterey Co., 9/18/2021

@danieldas, San Francisco Co., 9/19/2021

@gyrrlfalcon, San Mateo Co., 10/16/2019

@conormcmahon, Santa Barbara Co., 10/18/2021

@bugornot, Orange Co., 11/2/2020

@nealkelso, San Francisco Co., 11/8/2020

@nealkelso, San Francisco Co., 11/16/2020

@nealkelso, San Francisco Co., 11/17/2021

@wxynez, Los Angeles Co., 12/1/2021

@thetorterra, Santa Cruz Co., 12/6/2021

@jon_sullivan, Monterey Co., 12/30/2018

Posted on October 6, 2022 11:32 PM by ceiseman