Goldenrod bunch gall midge
The goldenrod bunch gall midge is a tiny fly that turns the top of a goldenrod plant into a bunch of leaves. The plant stops growing tall and makes a round rosette instead, like a green flower. Inside, the baby midges grow up safe and fed.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Its summer galls are 3 to 5 centimetres wide and look like a rosette of leaves.
Each little chamber in the gall holds one larva, which sits facing downwards.
It has two families a year. The spring galls are small and hard to find.
Plants with these galls are sometimes shorter than normal.
Most asked questions about Goldenrod bunch gall midge
?What is a goldenrod bunch gall?
A bunch of leaves at the top of a goldenrod stem, caused by a tiny midge that lays its eggs there.
?Do gall midges harm goldenrod?
Plants with galls may grow a bit shorter, but they keep living.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Rhopalomyia solidaginis
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Cecidomyiidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Cecidomyiidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Goldenrod bunch gall
Where the facts come from
- Rhopalomyia solidaginis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Beatriz Moisset. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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