Willow Pinecone Gall Midge

Rabdophaga strobiloides

The Willow Pinecone Gall Midge is a tiny insect that makes special galls on willow trees. These galls look like little pinecones and are homes for the midge's babies!

Lebensraum: Forests

Aussehen

The Willow Pinecone Gall Midge is a tiny, delicate fly, typically reddish-brown to dark gray with transparent wings. Its slender body and long legs give it a mosquito-like appearance, though it is much smaller and often overlooked.

ReichAnimaliaStammArthropodaKlasseInsectaOrdnungDipteraFamilieCecidomyiidaeGattungRabdophaga

Willow Pinecone Gall Midge

Kategorie

Insekten

Seltenheit

Common

Gefahr

1/5 · Sehr gering

Snaps

Mach den ersten Snap!

Interessante Fakten

Each gall can contain several midge larvae, all safely hidden inside their leafy home.

Even when willow leaves fall, the midge galls stay on the branches all winter long!

The adult midge is so small, it could easily hide on your fingernail!

The strange 'pinecone' you see on a willow tree is actually a house built by this tiny midge!

Besondere Fähigkeiten

Willow Pinecone Gall Midge can chemically induce willow trees to grow protective 'pinecone' galls, which shelter their developing young.

Willow Pinecone Gall Midge has a precise ability to target specific willow buds, ensuring the gall forms exactly where their larvae need to develop.

Willow Pinecone Gall Midge can lay its eggs directly into young willow buds, initiating the gall formation process for its offspring.

Maße und Details

Flügelspannweite: 4-8 mm
Größe: 2-4 mm
Lebenserwartung: 7-14 Tage
Fluggeschwindigkeit: 0.5 km/h
Anzahl der Beine: 6

Ernährung und Fütterung

Young midges eat willow tree sap and tissue from inside their special plant home.

Altersunterschiede: Adult midges do not feed, while larvae consume willow plant tissue within the gall.

Hauptnahrung

Willow bud sap
Willow stem tissue
Willow leaf tissue

Ökologische Zusammenhänge

depends on

White Willow

Salix alba

for gall formation and larval development.

eats

Black-capped Chickadee

Poecile atricapillus

forages on galls to extract larvae.

parasitizes

Gall Midge Parasitoid Wasp

Platygaster saliciperda

larvae developing inside midge larvae.

Merkmale

Einzelgänger

Einzelgänger leben den größten Teil ihres Lebens allein und interagieren mit Artgenossen nur zur Paarung oder zur Aufzucht der Jungen.

Pflanzenfressend

Dieses Merkmal kennzeichnet Lebewesen, deren Ernährung vollständig oder hauptsächlich aus pflanzlichem Material besteht.

Wald

Waldlebensräume sind terrestrische Lebensräume, die von dichtem Baumbestand dominiert werden und eine große Vielfalt an Pflanzen- und Tierarten beherbergen.