I had come up with a few general hypotheses about leaf miners before seeking them out. The first was that leaf miners would target plants with larger leaves to ensure an ample food supply, and the second was that they would avoid any plant that produces oils such as Poison Ivy and Mint plants. By extension, I would of thought that if leaf miners did inhabit smaller leaves, that the leaf miners would then be smaller insects, and would leave smaller galleries.
Excursion 1: Umass Campus
While exploring the campus, I had examined many of the local plants for leaf miner activies. The only leaf showing any presence of leaf miners, was narrow, approximately 1" wide, but very long, approximately 1' - 2', and had long straight galleries present. No other plants seemed to be infected with leaf miners.
Excursion 2: My Backyard
My hypothesis has been disproven by evidence of leaf miners in one of my weeds. The leaves measure 3" in length, and 3/4" at their widest sections. The galleries appear primarily around the edges of the leaf. The longest galleries appear to be about 4" long, and nearly all of the space is a black or dark brown color. On the underside of a leaf is a very small white husk of insect, which is attached to the gallery
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