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Observation of Leaf Infected with Leaf Miner

The leaf of a local weed was collected for study due to the irregualar presence of an unknown white streak throughout the leaf. The streak appears on the sun facing side of the leaf. The streak has no particular pattern, following the veins of the leaf in some areas, and crossing a series of veins in others. The streak has two obseravable ends where it may have began and ended. One end of the streak measures about 1mm and gradually narrows to approximately 0.2mm. The thicker end has higher concentration of blackened areas within the streak, and within the thickest point of the streak there appears to be withered and dead patch measuring 5mm. The streak is faintly visable on the underside of the leaf, and cannot be easily removed from the top of the leaf. This suggests that the streak lies just underneath the surface of the leaf.

This 165mm leaf was observed with a <1mm trail approximately 235mm in length. Within this trail are black specks that are deposits left behind by the leaf miner as it passed through the sub-layers of the leaf. The trail begins very narrow and ends about double in width at the point the leaf miner emerges from the leaf. The trail appears to be random at first then the line ends in an almost straight line. Its presence within the leaf does not appear to affect the structure or function of the leaf.

As expected at this time of the year, the leaf is green on both sides. Despite it being flimsy and rather weak to the point where it felt like it could rip easily at first, the leaf now appears stronger and firmer after having its stem submerged in water for a certain period of time. The leaf has a greater length than width, the length being approximately 14.40 cm and the width being roughly 3.9-4.0 cm. The leaf’s shape sort of resembles the shape of a feather as it starts narrow towards the stem and widens out before narrowing down again towards the tip. However, the leaf’s edges are not smooth but instead they have tips. The right side of the leaf has 23 tips while the left side has 22 tips. The stem which can be seen on the bottom part of the leaf has small white hairs which feel a bit rougher compared to any other part of the leaf. On a side note, the top part of the leaf has a couple of interesting features. The first and most obvious one is a line that sort of resembles an outline that takes up two thirds of the leaf. On the left side the is a small cut in the leaf about 6.0 cm up from the stem and in the middle, there is a small dot which also might be a small hole about 0.6 cm from the leaf’s tip.

Today we had the task to find and study a leaf with an uncommon white rimmed trail throughout the leaf. The leaf itself is a serrated oval shape with the small stem sticking out the bottom. The leaf is approximately 15 cm long and 5 cm wide and only about a tick mark of the ruler wide with a darker green top fading to a lighter green color towards the stem. The white trail surrounds about 2/3 of the leaf starting slim and growing thicker as it goes on to an eventual small opening in the surface. It can not be wiped off which means that is must be atleast one layer under the surface of the plant.
 

The leaf has a stem that attaches the leaf to the plant. The petiole (the stalks that joins a leaf to a stem) is extended into the leaf and divides equally into two. The leaf has an unknown line going through the leaf like a bunch of scribbles making it seem as if an insect has left its trial on it. Chlorophyll is definitely present in the leaf giving off the green color as it absorbs light energy.The leaf is very long with a bunch of veins through it. The structure of the leaf on the outside is very spiky. There’s a minor cut on the bottom of the leaf not going all the way to the stem but close enough. The leaf feels very smooth but can feel the veins the make the leaf. The bottom of the stem is very thick because its ripped off the plant. It has a small brown patch near the base of the leaf. The leaf is 18.5 cm long. The width of the leaf varies anywhere from 1-5cm wide. The leaf has parallel margins meaning a mirror image. It portrays a long line with spikes coming out in the center probably known as the midrib.

This specimen is a green, serrated edged leaf. The leaf is approximately 155mm in length with an elliptical shape. One end has the base of the stem where the leaf was attached to the mother plant. The other end is pointed. At the widest part, the leaf measures about 50mm. The stem is about 5mm across. There appear to be 2 lighter green "tracks" on the leaf. They take on a drizzled appearance. Almost as if someone drizzled icing on the leaf. The widest part of these tracks measures approximately 2mm. The thinnest part the track measures less than .5mm. These tracks only appear on the right vertical half of the leaf. They only appear on the top surface of the leaf and don't appear to permeate the bottom. The length of the tracks in total measure about 105mm and 145mm. On the left vertical half of the leaf there is an oddly shaped hole that has the shape of a fidget spinner. This hole has yellowing around the edges and is about 70mm up from the base of the stem. The stem of the leaf has fine, hairlike structures. There are some shiny dots on the leaf that are able to be washed away with water.

Description of leaf:
the leaf is an ellipse with serrated edges, measuring 126 mm from the tip of the leaf to the base of the unstraightened stem. The widest point, measured slightly diagonally across the center was 37mm.

Observation 1:
observed milky white colored streak on the sun facing side of the leaf of a local weed. The streak appears removable by aggressive rubbing with water. Black streaks are present in some of the infected areas. The streak appears erratic, and while most of the streak appears to follow along the veins of the leaf, some parts of the streak do cross over the veins while travelling up the leaf. The white streaks can be faintly seen through the underside of the leaf. The blackened areas are not visable through the leaf.

Observation 2:
Upon closer inspection, white streak was still present in scrubbed areas except where the leaf was heavily damaged by washing. This would suggest it is not a growth or residue leaft on the leaf, but is something underneath the surface. The track is nearly circular, however, has branches that indicate ends. Some sections are thicker,~1mm, and gradually slim down ~.2mm. The thicker areas are where the black streaks are more concentrated, and the thickest area has a small tan sliver similar in appearence to that of a dying leaf in the fall.

Leaf with trail along the right-side edge then crosses and descends along center vein. The trail appears to have removed the chlorophyll from the leaf. Inside the trail there are dark deposits/dots

Was this trail caused by something crawling along the leaf leaving a residue?

Another section of the leaf seems to have been consumed by another insect. I’m thinking that these are two different insects

The trail on the right side of the leaf appears to be deliberate, when it is at the top of the leaf it becomes more random like it is searching for something.

The leaf is 165mm long

The trail is approximately 235mm long.

The insect that caused this marking did not appear damage the leaf to the point of killing it, and it should still be capable of converting sun energy

Small black piece at the bottom of the water cup appears to be worm like in shape. Is this the creature that is responsible for this pattern within the leaf?

Plant type?

Collection

Type of plant

Location of plant

Leaf miners

-leaf observations
-The leaf is solid green darker green towards the top fading to a lighter green towards the stem.
-There is a white pool shaped border covering 2/3 of the leaf on the front but the inside is green only has a white rim.
-The back is solid dark to light green fade like the front but no white rim mark.
-The leaf has pointed out edges all around it until you get the stem with the main shape being an oval with a stuck out stem.
-The leaf is covered in what looks like a spray pattern of chemicals but only on the front.
-The back of the leaf is clean of chemical mist but has tiny hairs along the spine of the stem.
-Overall the leaf is smooth even the white border area.
-Part of the white border is turning black and a small piece near the stem has a slight reddish/brown tint that is consuming the plant material.
-The white rim is fused with the plant/ can't just be wiped off or removed without destroying the leaf.
-10 minutes after being picked leaf and the white mark is still pretty firm as a leaf can be and hasn't shriveled up to nothing.
-15 minutes in the back of the leaf is starting to seep through black where the black parts of the white rim were.
-15 cm long
-5 cm wide
-30 minutes in the stem is starting to rot and turn brown
-Weight is about .8 of a gram
-The leaf is only the tick mark of a ruler wide.
-Veins running out of the leaf are on average half a centimeter apart with none being more than a full centimeter apart.
-33 minutes in the middle right of the leaf has formed a small hole about 2/10 of the centimeter in diameter just from deteriorating.
-35 minutes in there are 5 new potential hole spots are forming around the first one

This leaf is freshly green. My leaf has a stem that attaches the leaf to the plant. The petiole (the stalks that joins a leaf to a stem) is extended into the leaf and divides equally into two. The leaf has a weird line going through the leaf like a bunch of scribbles making it seem as if an insect has left its trial on it. The leaf is very long and has a midrib through it. It also has a ton of veins. The structure of the leaf on the outside is very spiky. There’s a minor cut on the bottom of the leaf not going all the way to the stem but close enough. The leaf feels very smooth but can feel the veins the make the leaf. The bottom of the stem is very thick because its ripped off the plant. The stem gets thinner and thinner as it runs down the leaf. It has a small brown patch near the base of the leaf. The leaf is 18.5 cm long. The width of the leaf varies anywhere from 1-5cm wide. The leaf has parallel margins. It portrays a long line with spikes coming out in the center probably known as the midrib. Chlorophyll is definitely present in the leaf giving off the green color as it absorbs light energy.