Nantucket Leafminers, Gallmakers, and Other Herbivorous Insects

Submitted in fulfillment of Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative grants from 2011-2020.

A focus on the evidence left by certain herbivorous insects, such as galls and leaf mines, can reveal otherwise overlooked biodiversity. In many cases these persistent signs on plants are sufficient to identify the species that caused them. We surveyed Nantucket and Tuckernuck for galls and leaf mines, collecting those that we could not identify to attempt to rear them. We found over 260 species not previously reported from the islands, not including dozens of reared parasitoid wasps that remain to be identified. In the process we documented new host associations and found species that are new to science. Future surveys should target galls and leaf mines that remain unidentified, as well as free-living herbivorous larvae of other poorly known insect groups, with the goal of rearing the larvae to adults.