Raspberry gall midge
The raspberry gall midge is a tiny fly. Its babies live inside the stems of raspberry and blackberry bushes. The plant grows a round lump around them, called a gall, which becomes their cosy home.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
In early summer the mother lays up to forty eggs in a young bramble shoot.
The gall it makes is a round bump about 5 centimetres long, with several little rooms inside for the babies.
The babies are white at first and turn orange-red later in the summer.
The gall starts green and turns reddish brown as it gets older.
It has been found in 24 countries in Europe.
Most asked questions about Raspberry gall midge
?What is a gall?
A gall is a strange lump that a plant grows when an insect lives inside it. The insect babies use it as a home and a food store.
?Is the raspberry gall midge dangerous?
No. It is a tiny fly that cannot bite or sting people.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Lasioptera rubi
- Named by
- Schrank, 1803
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Cecidomyiidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Cecidomyiidae
- Lives on
- Europe
Where the facts come from
- Lasioptera rubi (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 Bj.schoenmakers. CC0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
Bug Wiki honey jar For grown-ups: Bug Wiki is free, with no ads and no tracking. A small tip helps keep it online.Leave a tip
Housefly
New World screwworm fly
Lovebug
Tsetse fly
Common fruit fly
Asian tiger mosquito
Black-and-white tiger moth
Yellow-shelled semi-slug
Kangaroo tick
Brown leather wing beetle
Common looper moth
Hill cuckoo bumble bee_gall,_Doorwerth,_the_Netherlands.jpg){kind=link}