Box elder gall midge
The box elder gall midge is a tiny fly from North America. It lives on the box elder, a kind of maple tree. Its babies make the tree grow little swellings called galls on its buds and leaves.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
It belongs to the gall midges, very small flies whose babies make plants grow galls.
It has extra names that tell where it lives on the tree: the bud gall midge and the leaf gall midge.
It is the only gall midge in North America that takes a long rest while it is a pupa, before it turns into a grown-up fly.
Most asked questions about Box elder gall midge
?Is the box elder gall midge harmful?
Not to people. It is a tiny fly that does not bite or sting.
?What is a gall?
A gall is a swelling that a plant grows around an insect baby. This midge's babies live in galls on box elder buds and leaves.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Contarinia negundinis
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Cecidomyiidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Cecidomyiidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Boxelder bud gall midge, Boxelder leaf gall midge
Where the facts come from
- Contarinia negundinis (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 iNaturalist user: megachile. CC0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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