55 Days of "Australian Leaf Miners"

It has been 55 days since I started this project, and there have been over 100 submissions from users in that time. This is so exciting!

I’m so happy to see the engagement from the iNat community. As you may or may not know, there are very few resources in Australia for understanding the leaf miners in Australia, and the contributions here are creating an invaluable resource.

Whilst activity from myself may seem low, rest assured there are people who are looking at all the submissions, and all your images are well appreciated.

For those who don't know, I am currently studying a sub-group of these leaf miners (the Gracillariidae, a moth family). I’m more than happy to receive active/pupating leaf mines at the Australian National Insect Collection. If you are happy to collect them for me from your property or somewhere where you have permission, do reach out. I am also looking at new uploads to see whether there are any leaf mines I am interested in having. I can reimburse you for your postage costs.

As this is a community project, do reach out if you have any suggestions for the project. For now I am gratefully treating this project as a resource for living leaf mine images.

I recently gave a number of talks on my project and leaf miners in general and my own project more specifically. I did make a brochure about leaf miners to give out at outreach events which I may post about some time next year.

Thanks everyone for contributing and happy holidays!

Posted on December 12, 2021 09:58 PM by antomology