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The meristems, where plant cell division occurs, are the usual sites of galls, though insect galls can be found on other parts of the plant, such as the leaves, stalks, branches, buds, roots, and even flowers and fruits. Gall-inducing insects are usually species-specific and sometimes tissue-specific on the plants they gall.
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.
The Cecidomyiinae, commonly known as gall midges or gall gnats, is the largest subfamily in Cecidomyiidae with over 600 genera and more than 5000 described species. [1] Larvae of the other ( basal ) cecidomyiid subfamilies feed on fungi; whereas this subfamily is best known for its members that induce galls on plants.
The host plants, and the size and shape of the galls are specific to the majority of gall wasps, with about 70% of the known species parasitizing various types of oak, inducing oak galls. Galls can be found on nearly all parts of such trees, including the leaves, buds, branches, and roots.
Galls induced by insects can be viewed as an extended phenotype of the inducing insect, and gall-inducing insects specialize on their host plants, often to a greater extent than insects that feed on the same plant without creating galls. [2] The gall's form or type depends on what organism is attacking the plant and where the plant is being ...
Plant Galls in Colour. Poole: Blandford Press. ISBN 0-7137-0748-8. Hancy, Rex (2000). The Study of Plant Galls in Norfolk. Norfolk & Norwich Naturalists' Society. Redfern, Margaret & Shirley, Peter (2011). British Plant Galls. Identification of Galls on Plants and Fungi. Shrewsbury: FSC Publications. ISBN 978 1 85153 284 1.
Cola-nut gall cut open to show the unilocular cavity Oak marble galls showing two stunted and two normal-sized examples. The galls are found in small groups, which however do not coalesce, helping to prevent mis-identification with the oak marble gall (Andricus kollari), in addition the shape is ovoid rather than spherical and it is scaly rather than smooth.
Asphondylia is a cosmopolitan genus of gall midges in the family Cecidomyiidae. All species in this genus induce galls on plants, especially on flowers and flower buds . [ 1 ] [ 2 ] There are over 300 described species in the genus Asphondylia , with many more likely to be discovered and described, especially in the southern hemisphere.