''Massalongia'' is a genus of flies in the family
Cecidomyiidae
Cecidomyiidae is a family of flies known as gall midges or gall gnats. As the name implies, the larvae of most gall midges feed within plant tissue, creating abnormal plant growths called galls. Cecidomyiidae are very fragile small insects usu ...
. The larvae induce
galls
Galls (from the Latin , 'oak-apple') or ''cecidia'' (from the Greek , anything gushing out) are a kind of swelling growth on the external tissues of plants, fungi, or animals. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues, similar to be ...
on
birches
A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 to ...
.
Species
The following six species have been described in this genus:
* ''
Massalongia altaica''
Fedotova, 1990
* ''
Massalongia bachmaieri''
Möhn, 1954
* ''
Massalongia betulifolia''
Harris, 1974
* ''
Massalongia nakamuratetsui''
Elsayed & Tokuda 2020
* ''
Massalongia papyrifera''
(Gagné, 1967)
* ''
Massalongia rubra''
(Kieffer, 1890)
References
Cecidomyiinae
Cecidomyiidae genera
Taxa named by Jean-Jacques Kieffer
{{Sciaroidea-stub
Insects described in 1890
Gall-inducing insects