In central Brazil, recolonization of burned cerrado areas by leaf-miners on Roupala montana (Aublet) and Tabebuia ochracea (Chamisso) and leaf-gallers on Andira humilis (Martius) begins 6–7 wk after burning, and is simultaneous with the sprouting of new shoots of the insects’ host plants. The most abundant R. montana leaf-miner used mostly young red leaves, whereas the others were only seen on green expanding leaves. The recolonization of burned areas was mainly exogenous, although some life-cycle adapted species lived through the fire and recolonized endogenously. The gallers from A. humilis and miners from T. ochracea also showed distributions that resulted from exogenous recolonization. Availability of young leaves may be driving the dispersal of one Tineoidea leaf-miner, because these prefer to oviposit on very young nonexpanded R. montana leaves. Adaptations of leaf-miners and gallers to survive a fire may include pupating >2–3 cm below ground or feeding on leaves above the scorch height. Delayed recolonization 1 km away from the borders of the burned area suggests that large burnings may cause a loss of diversity and that the time for recovery of a burned area is dependent on the dispersal capacity of the organisms.