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Photo#447527
Gall - Pachypsylla venusta

Gall - Pachypsylla venusta
Hopkins Gap, Little North Mountain, Rockingham County, Virginia, USA
August 25, 2010
I found this dry gall on what I think is a Hackberry variety and decided to open it up. I found a small larva inside but I'm not sure if it's the true owner of the gall. The gall is ~12 mm and the larvae ~6 mm. By BugGuide images I suspect the gall may be a Hackberry leaf petiole gall.

Images of this individual: tag all
Gall, Inhabitant Gall, Inhabitant Gall, Inhabitant Gall - Pachypsylla venusta Gall - Pachypsylla venusta Gall - Pachypsylla venusta

Moved
Moved from Hackberry Psyllids.

Moved
Moved from Checkered Beetles.

Moved
Moved from Beetles.

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

 
Psyllid gall, but not psyllid larva
I agree with this move. I believe this an a old gall from the previous growing season and based on another ID that Charley Eiseman did for me of a fresh gall, I suspect the original gall-maker was - as G.K. suggested - a psyllid:
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I am not an expert on insect larvae, but the large larva in the final photo is certainly not a tiny psyllid, so is more likely an opportunist that discovered this old gall.

Hackberry
Although I have no scale to judge size, the leaves in your host plant photo seem rather small and squat to me to be Common Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis), I wonder if this might be Dwarf Hackberry (Celtis tenuifolia). The latter is a shrub or small tree, the former a tree (which of course start out as saplings). Both occur in Virginia.

 
Probably the Dwarf Hackberry
The plant is not a tree unless very young, more of a tall shrub, so it is probably the Dwarf Hackberry.

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