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Photo#1159503
Goldenrod stem with multiple rosette galls

Goldenrod stem with multiple rosette galls
Eagle Heights Community Gardens, Madison County, Wisconsin, USA
October 1, 2015
Size: various
Here are all the galls, detached from the stem. All empty except for the gall with white arrow, which had an insect.

Images of this individual: tag all
Goldenrod stem with multiple rosette galls Goldenrod stem with multiple rosette galls Mystery wasp inside a rosette gall

Frassed

I think these are actually
galls of the fruit fly Procecidochares atra, which makes small, lateral bud galls like these, each with a single chamber inset in the stem tissue.

R. solidaginis galls are on the terminal bud, and look 'looser' with several tufts of leaves composing each gall. Each gall usually has several tiny larvae-housing chambers situated above the stem terminus, and are composed of leaf or apical stem tissue (not swollen, deeply-set chambers).

 
Procecidochares atra?
This was a long time ago, but on this picture there is indeed more than one chamber, judging by the darkened areas. The buds were also very 'loose' as can be seen on the previous picture, thus it all seems to point to the midge (Rhopalomyia solidaginis) rather than the fruit fly (Procecidochares atra). The interesting thing was finding that parasitoid, I think.

 
Okay. I'm truly seeing only a
Okay. I'm truly seeing only a single, hollow chamber per gall. It looks like two per gall here because they've been sectioned vertically. These are not loose in the sense that Rhopalomyia solidaginis galls are, where the leaves surrounding each of several chambers per gall are long and skinny and distinct. R. solidaginis chambers are not darkened, and are instead translucent and held above the stem of the plant, roughly where a bud would be. Also, I think it's basically unheard of to find so many distinct Rhopalomyia solidaginis galls on one plant. There's usually just one cluster of leaves at the terminal bud of the plant, though that cluster may contain several chambers.

 
You win
Yes, you are absolutely right. Sorry for being so obtuse. It was indeed a long time ago and I have been refreshing my memory. Indeed in the past I have found a true bunch gall at the top of the stem, see below. I hope that you would be able to move these to the right place.

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