Willow rose gall midge
The willow rose gall midge is a tiny fly that turns the tip of a willow twig into something that looks like a green rose. Its larva makes the twig stop growing longer, but the leaves keep growing. They crowd together into a pretty rosette.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
One rose gall is made of 30 to 60 short leaves packed tightly together.
On goat willow the rose can be 8 centimetres wide.
Each rose holds just one pinkish larva, which turns into a fly right there inside it.
In autumn the rose turns brown and stays on the tree all winter.
Sometimes other midges move in, and the rose turns into a shape like an artichoke.
Most asked questions about Willow rose gall midge
?What is a willow rose gall?
It is a bunch of short leaves at the tip of a willow twig, made by a midge larva living inside.
?Does the willow rose gall hurt the tree?
It stops that one twig from growing longer, but the willow keeps living.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Rabdophaga rosaria
- Named by
- Loew, 1850
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Cecidomyiidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Cecidomyiidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, North America
Where the facts come from
- Rabdophaga rosaria (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 Beentree. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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