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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Flies (Diptera) » "Nematocera" (Non-Brachycera) » Bibionomorpha » Gall Midges (Cecidomyiidae)

Family Cecidomyiidae - Gall Midges

out at night Puzzling pods Eggs - Caryomyia persicoides Gall Midge at Lights Sub mm Fly tiny orange fly Another gall, anothe midge - Rhopalomyia clarkei catclaw leaflet gall midge - Contarinia
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Diptera (Flies)
No Taxon ("Nematocera" (Non-Brachycera))
Infraorder Bibionomorpha
Family Cecidomyiidae (Gall Midges)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Cecidiomyiidae (spelling)
Numbers
more than 1,200 species in 170 genera in North America (nearctica.com)
Identification
Minute, delicate flies with long legs and usually relatively long antennae, and with reduced wing venation. (1) p.578.
Food
Most are gall makers. Others feed on plants. A few live on decaying matter and a few feed on aphids.
Life Cycle
Several genera present paedogenesis (reproduccion by larvae).
Remarks
An important pest is the Hessian fly, Mayetiola destructor, which is a pest of wheat. Another pest is the midge of red clover Dasineura leguminicola.
Among the ones that feed on aphids Aphidoletes aphidimyza is used as a biocontrol.
Print References
(1)
Internet References
pinned adult images and photos of galls (Insects of Cedar Creek, Minnesota).
Wikipedia.
USDA Forestry Services.
Foresty images. Photos of some species.
Works Cited
1.Borror and DeLong's Introduction to the Study of Insects
By Norman F. Johnson, Charles A. Triplehorn
Contributed by john and jane balaban on 31 October, 2004 - 3:39pm
Additional contributions by cotinis, Beatriz Moisset, Robin McLeod
Last updated 17 September, 2009 - 12:47pm

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