''Rabdophaga rigidae'', the willow beaked-gall midge, is a species of gall midge in the family Cecidomyiidae. It is found across North America. Some sources state that it is also present in parts of eastern Asia including Japan; however, a 2006 study shows that the Asian populations likely represent a separate species: '' Rabdophaga salicivora''.

Life history

The larvae of this midge form

gall 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 ...

s as they develop in the terminal buds of willows. They overwinter in these galls and emerge in the spring as adults. In studies performed on '' Salix eriocarpa'', it was found that plants colonized by the willow beaked-gall midge are stimulated to produce greater numbers of lateral shoots. This younger secondary growth in turn leads to increased herbivory by aphids such as ''

Aphis farinosa ''Aphis'' is a genus of insects in the family Aphididae containing at least 600 species of aphids. It includes many notorious agricultural pests, such as the soybean aphid ''Aphis glycines''. Many species of ''Aphis'', such as '' A. coreopsid ...

'' and leaf beetles such as ''

Plagiodera versicolora ''Plagiodera versicolora'' is a species of leaf beetle (subfamily Chrysomelinae) in the genus ''Plagiodera''. Description ''Plagiodera versicolora'' grows to 2.5 - 4.8 mm in length and is metallic blue or green, occasionally purplish to black ...

'' and '' Smaragdina semiaurantiaca''.

Life history

References

Further reading