Friday, September 2, 2011

Jewelweed Gall Midge

If you have been out popping plump jewelweed seedpods like I have been, you may have noticed a few unusual-looking growths hanging in place of some jewelweed flowers. These growths look almost like a minute cabbage or brussel sprout.
These are galls caused by the jewelweed gall midge - Schizomyia impatientis.
Gall of the Jewelweed Gall Midge - Schizomyia impatientis

The midge larvae gall the flower buds of jewelweed. 
The photo didn't reproduce the orange color of the midge larva.

Rather a snug place to be... much safer than hanging around on the jewelweed's seedpod launch pads, eh?
Posted by Dana at 9/02/2011
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3 comments:

  1. Just stumbled across your post - this is great! I have a similar post, including a link to a video showing a live larvae crawling around after I did some home surgery on a gall. You can see it here - http://tinyurl.com/67wdgmb (You'll have to wade past other stuff - it's at the end.)

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  2. I just found one, too... in Iowa:
    http://bugguide.net/node/view/577857

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  3. Are they harmful to any great degree?

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