V is for Vegetable Leafminer
Like serpentine leafminers, vegetable leafminers create lightly colored, irregularly winding mines in leaves. The mines are generally S-shaped and may be enlarged at one end. Infested leaves are favorable habitats for invading bacterial and fungal plant pathogens. Also, since heavily mined leaves may have nearly 100% of their mesophyll removed, photosynthetic efficiency is greatly reduced.
http://ipm.ncsu.edu/ag295/html/vegetable_leafminer.htm for picture.
W is for the Wasp
Generally wasps are parasites or parasitoids as larvae, and feed only on nectar as adults. Many wasps are predatory, using other insects (often paralyzed) as food for their larvae. A few social wasps are omnivorous, feeding on a variety of fallen fruit, nectar, and carrion. Some of these social wasps, such as yellowjackets, may scavenge for dead insects to provide for their young. In many social species the larvae provide sweet secretions that are fed to the adults. http://www.amanita-photolibrary.co.uk/photo_library/BI_invertebrates/Wasp.htm for picture
X is for Xyelidae
The Xyelidae is a small family of sawflies known from fewer than 50 extant species in 5 genera, but with an extensive fossil record; they are the oldest fossil Hymenoptera, dating back to the Triassic, some 200 million years ago. Most species occur in the Northern Hemisphere, especially in boreal regions, though there are a few neotropical species. Most are associated with conifers (esp. Pinus and Abies), where the larvae feed on pollen or within buds, though larvae of a few species feed on the leaves of deciduous trees. The balsam shootboring sawfly larva is pictured at left.
The family is characterized by the appendages of the head, which are truly remarkable in that the antennae and palpi are nearly leg-like in structure, with a long basal segment followed by a series of tiny segments, as in the tibia-tarsus. It is tempting to speculate that there is a homeobox-gene explanation for this unusual anatomy, as mutations of this gene region in other insects can cause the mouthparts and antennae to become leg-like.
Filed under: Miscellaneous
