Phytomyza aldrichi Spencer

Material examined. VERMONT: Windham Co., Wilmington, Lake Raponda Rd., 42.871843, −72.816292, 17.vii.2021, em. 27.vii.2021, C.S. Eiseman & J.A. Blyth, ex Ranunculus acris, # CSE6943, CNC1904929, CNC1904930 (2♀).

Photographed mines. NORTH CAROLINA: Orange Co., Duke Forest, Old Bridge Trail, 15.v.2019, T. S. Feldman, mine with puparium on Ranunculus recurvatus (BG 1661995).

Hosts. Ranunculaceae: R. *acris L., R. recurvatus Poir., R. repens L. (Eiseman & Lonsdale 2018).

Leaf mine. Contorted, brown, along the leaf margin; see Eiseman & Lonsdale (2018, including Fig. 174).

Puparium. Whitish; formed within the leaf, on the lower surface (Eiseman & Lonsdale 2018).

Phenology and voltinism. This species is evidently multivoltine. Mines have been collected in mid-June (ME), mid-July (VT), and early August (OH), with adults emerging 10–14 days later (Eiseman & Lonsdale 2018).An adult was collected in Nova Scotia in late September (Lonsdale 2021). A mine containing a puparium (not reared) was found in North Carolina in mid-May.

Distribution. USA: ID, MD, ME, [NC], OH, *VT; Canada: NS, ON, QC (Lonsdale 2021).

Comments. We are unable to distinguish paler females of this species from females of the darker forms of Phytomyza ranunculi (Schrank), but that species forms a whitish, linear mine with the grayish to brown puparium formed externally, whereas P. aldrichi forms a highly contorted, brown mine with a whitish puparium formed inside the leaf (Eiseman & Lonsdale 2018).