Very tiny speck of a fly, about 2 mm. Larva is a pinpoint yellowish maggot that lives inside the leaves of buckeyes, eating the cells between the upper skin and the lower skin, hence the name "Leaf Miner." In the picture at right the brown areas are the "mines" hollowed out by the larvae, and the yellowish white spots are the larvae emerging from their mines. After emerging they will convert to pupae by developing a hardened skin, as at upper left (orange). Within the pupae the adult will develop to emerge about a year later, in the spring.

This species is fairly new to science. It was discovered in Ohio a few years ago, mining Ohio buckeyes, and was properly described and named in the scientific literature in 2018 by Charley Eiseman, naturalist and member of BugGuide, and Dr. Owen Lonsdale of the Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes.

The leaf miners in Wildwood were discovered in May 2017 by Nancy Kent.  To verify that our flies, mining our sweet buckeyes, are indeed members of this newly recognized species, she collected pupae and sent them to Charley Eiseman.  He incubated them and when adult flies emerged, all females as happened, he confirmed the identity.  He also took a picture of  one of the adults (left). 

The species is currently known only from Ohio (where it was discovered), Ontario, Iowa, Kansas, North and South Carolina, and Virginia.

If you are looking for this insect, your best chance to "see" it is to look for damaged areas in sweet buckeye leaves. With a good handlens or closeup camera lens, or just very good eyes, you may find the larvae and/or pupae in the spring.