The Agromyzidae are a family of flies, commonly referred to as the leaf-miner flies for the feeding habits of their larvae, most of which are leaf miners on various plants. It includes roughly 2,500 species, they are small, some with wing length of 1 mm. The maximum size is 6.5 mm. Most species are in the range of 2 to 3 mm.
Agromyzidae
Larval mines of European holly leaf miner, Phytomyza ilicis
Figure 3 Cerodontha denticornis, 3a head lateral, 3b antenna, and figure 5 Phytomyza affinis 5a head lateral, 5b face, 5c antenna
Mines of Phytomyza sp. on leaf of Solidago.
A leaf miner is any one of numerous species of insects in which the larval stage lives in, and eats, the leaf tissue of plants. The vast majority of leaf-mining insects are moths (Lepidoptera), sawflies, and flies (Diptera). Some beetles also exhibit this behavior.
Leaf miner damage to a horse chestnut tree
Leaf with minor miner damage
Tomato with leaf miner damage
Leaf mines by the moth Phyllocnistis hyperpersea on a Persea borbonia leaf