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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Systematic Entomology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #308748
Title: A new species of Dasineura Rondani (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) in flower galls of Camassia (Asparagaceae: Agavoideae) in the Pacific Northwest, USA

Author
item GAGNE, R. - Retired ARS Employee
item BAROSH, T. - Colorado State University
item KEPHART, S. - Oregon State University

Submitted to: Zootaxa
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/20/2014
Publication Date: 12/22/2014
Citation: Gagne, R.J., Barosh, T., Kephart, S. 2014. A new species of Dasineura Rondani (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) in flower galls of Camassia (Asparagaceae: Agavoideae) in the Pacific Northwest, USA. Zootaxa. 3900(2):271-278.

Interpretive Summary: During floristic studies of camas lilies in the Pacific Northwest, a gall midge was discovered for the first time damaging flowers and preventing seed set. Efforts to identify the pest and determine whether it was new to science involved an investigation into other species of its large genus, particularly those species that occur on the lily family in other parts of the world and on other hosts from western United States. We show that the insect is new to science, place it in its scientific context, and properly describe all stages with illustrations so that the pest and its damage can be readily identified by botanists and horticulturists.

Technical Abstract: A new species, Dasineura camassiae Gagné (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), is described, illustrated and compared to some of its congeners, those from related hosts and those from western North America. The new species causes flower galls on Camassia (Agavoideae; Asparagaceae) in the Pacific Northwest. Its present known distribution is Oregon and Washington, USA. Larvae develop in spring in flowers of Camassia spp., causing the young ovaries to enlarge prematurely and eventually abort without forming seeds or mature fruit. Full-grown larvae crawl out of the gall in rapid succession and drop to the soil where they pupate; they remain there until spring of the following year when the adults lay eggs. The galls they induce in camas lily buds represent the first known association of the cosmopolitan genus Dasineura with the group of widely known plants that includes Agave and its relatives.