''Rhopalomyia'' is a genus of gall midges, insects 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 ...
. There are at least 267
described species in ''Rhopalomyia''.
Most species in this genus 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 plants in the
Asteraceae
The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...
.
This genus has a
cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan may refer to:
Food and drink
* Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo"
History
* Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953
Hotels and resorts
* Cosmopoli ...
distribution.
Rhopalomyia was first established by
Ewald Heinrich Rübsaamen
Ewald Heinrich Rübsaamen (20 May 1857, Haardt – 17 March 1919, Metternich) was a German teacher, artist, and amateur entomologist who studied gall forming insects, especially the gall midges (Cecidomyiidae), and worked on pest control in grapes, ...
in 1892.
See also
*
List of Rhopalomyia species
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
*
Cecidomyiinae
Cecidomyiidae genera
{{Sciaroidea-stub
Gall-inducing insects
Taxa described in 1892
Taxa named by Ewald Heinrich Rübsaamen