Sagebrush woolly stem gall midge
Rhopalomyia floccosa
The sagebrush woolly stem gall midge is a tiny fly from California. It makes the California sagebrush plant grow little white balls that look like fluffy wool. These balls are called galls, and the midge's babies live safely inside them.
Lives in
California, on California sagebrush
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It is a tiny midge that does not bite people.
What does it eat?
Its larvae live inside the woolly galls and feed on the California sagebrush plant.
How fast is it?
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
Sagebrush woolly stem gall midge about 8 km/h (5 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
One gall is about 5 millimetres across, like a small fluffy ball.
2
When many galls grow together, the clump can be 3 to 4 centimetres long.
3
Each gall has just one little room inside.
4
The galls grow out of the plant's buds.
you asked
Most asked questions about Sagebrush woolly stem gall midge
?What is a gall?
A gall is a lump that a plant grows when an insect makes it do so. The insect's baby lives and eats inside it.
?Where does the sagebrush woolly stem gall midge live?
In California, on the California sagebrush plant.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Rhopalomyia floccosa
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Cecidomyiidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Cecidomyiidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Rhopalomyia floccosa (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 Daniel Das. CC0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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