#3
Agromyzidae: Ptochomyza asparagivora Spencer, 1964. Nice photo of one of tiniest agromyzids of the world [length around 1mm], which develops in a single minute leaflet of Asparagus species (Asparagaceae). It has a sympatric sister species, P. asparagi Hering, 1942, which normally has one notopleural seta only [very rare in Agromyzidae], has a longer, pubescent and not thickened arista and a staighter M1+2 wing vein (this vein is very weak and ends at the wing tip). Compared with other leaf miner flies the male genitalia are very simplified as in other tiny Agromyzidae, e.g. Aulagromyza spp. mining in Salicaceae leaves. Both species partly occur in huge masses on Asparagus, finally all leaflets are whitish and wilted, as a larva consumes the whole contents between upper and lower epidermis of a needle-like leaflet. Distribution of P. asparagivora from Kenya via Ethiopia to southern Europe and the western Oriental Region.
