I spotted this cluster of galls yesterday while hiking. I'm used to seeing them on the leaves of oak trees, but was a little surprised to see these on the leaves of a sawtooth sunflower. BugGuide explained that these are created by Pilodiplosis helianthibulla (a type of midge). I found a longer discussion at Prairie Rivers. See also gall-inducing insects.
Those midge galls are huge!
ReplyDeleteThis is a goldenrod gall I opened, and found inhabited (over wintered, I assume?):
https://skeetmotis.blogspot.com/2022/05/solidago-puparium.html Solidago puparium
Your critter is new for me -
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldenrod_gall_fly
- but I have seen stem galls. These leaf ones struck me as odd
And browsing you today I found the "sill" post and realized that I have seen that springwood/summerwood distinction before without realizing what it was. I'll reblog it eventually. Tx.
DeleteIt’s funny, leaf galls are all I’ve ever seen, they’re ubiquitous here. Some examples here: http://oneminutebugs.com.au/gall-inducing-insects/
DeleteNIce link. Added to the body of the text. Tx, Jim.
DeleteLots of good material in that blog. Is it yours, Jim?
DeleteGalls ! ... is that you, Asterisk ?
ReplyDeleteObviously all of these are not split into three parts.
DeleteFWIW Gallformers https://gallformers.org/ is the best website I've found for galls.
ReplyDeleteSpecies count is especially interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecidomyiidae
ReplyDelete