Rhopalomyia anthophila larvae + parasitoid - Rhopalomyia anthophila

Moved

… Beatriz Moisset, 24 September, 2009 - 11:45am

Take a look at Cecidomyiidae

Gall Midges. I'll take a look in my Immature Insects book and see which ones like Solidago.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/8383/bgimage

… Natalie Hernandez, 16 September, 2009 - 12:28pm

Thank you. Gagne's book, "Th

Thank you.
Gagne's book, "The Plant-Feeding Gall Midges of North America" keys: Solidago, bud or flower gall, galls cylindrical-not formed of leaf rosette, modified floret, gall widest at base-fuzzy = Rhopalomyia anthophilia. But I don't think the smaller larva is the same.

… MJ Hatfield, 16 September, 2009 - 8:57pm

Rhopalomyia anthophilia

I agree with your ID of the gallmaker, and I just made a guide page for that species, but I left your images in ID Request for now to see if there are any more comments on the larvae. I agree that these look like two different larvae... I'm no expert in these matters, but my guess would be that the smaller one is dipteran and the larger is hymenopteran.

… Charley Eiseman, 18 September, 2009 - 2:11pm

Thanks Charley. I was 'guessi

Thanks Charley. I was 'guessing' just the opposite; big fly, little wasp.

… MJ Hatfield, 18 September, 2009 - 4:37pm

You may well be right

It would make more sense for an inquiline/parasitoid to be smaller than its host. My impression is based on a gestalt sense from other larvae I have seen, but I really haven't done much looking inside galls so my guess isn't worth much.

… Charley Eiseman, 18 September, 2009 - 4:42pm