Coming soon…
The story of neorthochaeta dissimilis,
or “One yucky white larva nearly ruined my iris patch!”
Well, I just may be the world’s leading expert on neorthochaeta dissimilis. I’m not sure what makes an expert, but I think I know more about this ucky, yucky little maggot than anybody else. anybody that I could find, anyway. Granted, my entomology lab wasn’t as fancy as iris breeder Andrew Wheeler’s lab at Harvard, and I didn’t have the newest temperature and climate-controlled insect nurseries and big microscopes like entomologist Richard Hoebeke at Cornell University (both of whom you will hear more about), but I managed just fine. Assorted glass jars with masking tape labels lined up on my kitchen counter; tiny paper envelopes in the freezer compartment next to the coffee beans; insect collection bottle with the red screw top that clips to my belt, used since childhood; on hands and knees in the garden dirt with a magnifying glass… this was my bug lab. And this is where I learned all I ever wanted to know about the Iris Bud Fly.
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