Galls or cecidia are a kind of swelling growth on the external tissues of plants, fungi, or animals. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues, similar to benign tumors or warts in animals. They can be caused by various parasites, from viruses, fungi and bacteria, to other plants, insects and mites. Plant galls are often highly organized structures so that the cause of the gall can often be determined without the actual agent being identified. This applies particularly to some insect and mite plant galls. The study of plant galls is known as cecidology.
Thrips are minute, slender insects with fringed wings and unique asymmetrical mouthparts. Different thrips species feed mostly on plants by puncturing and sucking up the contents, although a few are predators. Entomologists have described approximately 6,000 species. They fly only weakly and their feathery wings are unsuitable for conventional flight; instead, thrips exploit an unusual mechanism, clap and fling, to create lift using an unsteady circulation pattern with transient vortices near the wings.
Cecidomyiidae is a family of flies known as gall midges or gall gnats. As the name implies, the larvae of most gall midges feed within plant tissue, creating abnormal plant growths called galls. Cecidomyiidae are very fragile small insects usually only 2–3 mm (0.079–0.118 in) in length; many are less than 1 mm (0.039 in) long. They are characterised by hairy wings, unusual in the order Diptera, and have long antennae. Some Cecidomyiids are also known for the strange phenomenon of paedogenesis in which the larval stage reproduces without maturing first. In some species, the daughter larvae consume the mother, while in others, reproduction occurs later on in the egg or pupa.
Cyphocleonus achates is a species of true weevil known as the knapweed root weevil. It is native to southern Europe and the Mediterranean and is used as an agent of biological pest control against noxious knapweeds, especially spotted knapweed. It has recently been spotted in India.
Diplolepis rosae is a gall wasp which causes a gall known as the rose bedeguar gall, Robin's pincushion, mossy rose gall, or simply moss gall. The gall develops as a chemically induced distortion of an unopened leaf axillary or terminal bud, mostly on field rose or dog rose shrubs. The female lays up to 60 eggs within each leaf bud using her ovipositor. The grubs develop within the gall, and the wasps emerge in spring; the wasp is parthenogenetic with fewer than one percent being males. Previous synonyms for the species are Diplolepis bedeguaris, Rhodites rosae, and Cynips rosae.
Dioryctria sylvestrella, the new pine knot-horn or maritime pine borer, is a moth of the family Pyralidae. It is found in Europe, parts of Asia and North Africa. The adult is a small mottled brown and white insect with a wingspan of 28 to 35 mm. The moth flies in a single generation from June to October and is a pest of maritime pine and several other species of pine, on which the caterpillars feed.
Urophora cardui or the Canada thistle gall fly is a fruit fly which, contrary to its common name, is indigenous to Central Europe from the United Kingdom east to near the Crimea, and from Sweden south to the Mediterranean.
Epiblema strenuana, the stem-galling moth or ragweed borer, is a moth of the family Tortricidae. It is endemic to North America, but was introduced to Australia from Mexico to control the weeds of the family Asteraceae in 1982. It is occasionally misspelled as Epiblema strenuanum.
Caloptilia cecidophora is a moth of the family Gracillariidae. It is known from Japan and Taiwan.
Beesoniidae is a family of scale insects commonly known as beesoniids. They typically cause galls on their plant hosts. Members of this family mostly come from southern Asia. The family name comes from the type genus Beesonia which is named after the entomologist C.F.C. Beeson who obtained the specimens from which they were described and named.
Lithocolletinae is a subfamily of insects in the moth family Gracillariidae. It is distributed worldwide, with most species in temperate regions.
Adaina primulacea is a moth of the family Pterophoridae. It is known from Taboga Island in the Gulf of Panama, Costa Rica and southern Florida, United States. It is probably widespread throughout the Neotropics, including the West Indies and Central and South America.
Dioryctria albovittella, the pinyon tip moth, is a species of moth of the family Pyralidae. It is found in North America including New Mexico.
Dioryctria ebeli, the south coastal coneworm moth, is a species of moth of the family Pyralidae. It is found in the US states of Florida, the southern parts of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Massachusetts, and south-eastern Louisiana.
Dioryctria amatella, the southern pineconeworm moth, is a species of moth of the family Pyralidae. It is found in the south-eastern United States, from Maryland south to Florida and west into Texas.
Dioryctria reniculelloides, the spruce coneworm, is a moth of the family Pyralidae. The species was first described by Akira Mutuura and Eugene G. Munroe in 1973. It is found from Nova Scotia to Alaska, south in the east to New York, and south in the west to California and New Mexico. It was recorded from China in 2009. Occasionally abundant, often in conjunction with epidemics of the spruce budworm, the spruce coneworm occurs through most or all of the range of spruce in North America, feeding on new foliage and cones of spruce, and often balsam fir. When abundant, it can be a serious pest "particularly on white spruce".
Dioryctria mongolicella is a species of snout moth in the genus Dioryctria. It was described by Wang and Sung in 1982, and is known from north-eastern China and Mongolia.
Dioryctria taiella is a species of snout moth in the genus Dioryctria. It was described by Hans Georg Amsel in 1970 and is known from Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Pemphigus spyrothecae, or the poplar spiral gall aphid, is a social insect which exhibits apparent altruistic behaviors. The aphids form galls and act as colony defenders, at times sacrificing their own lives to do so. It has been shown that colony defense is more likely in habitats that are difficult to obtain and can hold a large number of individuals. These gall locations are crucial because plants have a short window in which a gall can be produced. Thus, it is important for there to be a defense system that enables the aphids to retain their galls. The need for defense arises when the gall is opened up to allow winged aphid migrants to leave and to release any waste. The process of repairing the holes can take up to 10 days; during this time, the gall is susceptible to intruding predators.
Helcystogramma convolvuli, the sweet potato moth, sweetpotato webworm moth, sweetpotato leaf roller or black leaf folder, is a moth of the family Gelechiidae. It is mainly found in Asia and Africa, but there are also records from Oceania, the Middle East, the Caribbean and Florida in the United States. The species is also found on the Canary Islands and Madeira.
