Species Eutreta novaeboracensis

Eutreta novaeboracensis (Fitch 1855)

NE North America (NS‒NJ to n.GA in the mountains, west to the eastern Dakotas and NE Nebraska)

Weedy areas

Primary larval host is Solidago altissima

Larvae develop in galls on the roots or stems of their host plant. Males apparently secrete a cone-shaped frothy mass on a leaf when ready to breed. When a female approaches, the male signals with movements of his body and wings. If she starts feeding from his froth mass, he initiates copulation. Afterwards the female leaves to oviposit, usually at or near the ground.

The most common northeastern species of Eutreta. Possibly consists of two cryptic species, one bivoltine and forming galls on the host plant's stem, the other univoltine and forming galls on the roots.(1)