Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Species Urophora stylata - Bull Thistle Gall Fly

bull thistle gall fly? - Urophora stylata - male Fruit Fly - Urophora stylata - female Fruit fly - Urophora stylata - female mating Urophora stylata? - Urophora stylata - male - female Urophora stylata male and female - Urophora stylata - male - female Syrphidae? - Urophora stylata Syrphidae? - Urophora stylata Aurora Urophora - Urophora stylata - female
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Diptera (Flies)
No Taxon ("Acalyptratae")
Superfamily Tephritoidea
Family Tephritidae (Fruit Flies)
Subfamily Tephritinae
Tribe Myopitini
Genus Urophora
Species stylata (Bull Thistle Gall Fly)
Other Common Names
Seedhead Gall Fly
Size
males 4-5 mm, females larger
Food
on Bull Thistle (Cirsium vulgare)
Life Cycle
Eggs hatch in 5-8 days. Third instar larvae overwinter in galls and pupate in June. Adults live about two months.
Remarks
Introduced to BC from Europe in 1973
Internet References
Fact sheet by D.W. Pierce(1)