Large creosote gall midge
The large creosote gall midge is a tiny brown-orange fly from the deserts of North America. It is only about 4 millimetres long. Its babies grow up inside a round, leafy ball on a desert bush called the creosote bush.
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Fun facts
The mother midge carries a tiny bit of fungus in a special pouch on her body. She puts it into the plant together with her eggs.
The fungus makes the plant grow a gall, a little round house that looks bushy and leafy.
The gall is green while the midges grow inside, and it turns brown after they fly out.
The galls do not seem to hurt the creosote bush at all.
The grown-ups come out at the times when rain makes the creosote bush grow.
Most asked questions about Large creosote gall midge
?What is a gall?
A gall is a lump that a plant grows around insect eggs. For this midge it is a round, green, leafy ball.
?Is the creosote gall midge harmful?
No. It does not bite people, and its galls do not seem to harm the bush.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Asphondylia auripila
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Cecidomyiidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Cecidomyiidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Asphondylia auripila (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 Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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