Honeylocust Podgall Midge – Dasineura gleditischiae

Honeylocust Podgall Midge (Dasineura gleditischiae)

Latin Name: Dasineura gleditchiae (Osten Sacken)

Common Name: Honeylocust Pod Gall Midge

Appearance: 

Egg:

Yellow in color and kidney-shaped.

Larva/Nymph:

Yellowish white maggots and having 6mm in length.

Adult:

Antennae are normally lengthy and curve back towards the thorax, and they     resemble little flies with a length of 3mm. Females are black with red abdomens, whereas males are black.

Pupa:

Come about within the pods which have dropped to the ground.

Hosts plants:

Honeylocust plants, mainly thornless species. The main host is Gleditsia trianthos

Territory: Throughout North America

Damage caused by Honeylocust Pod Gall Midge:

Larvae feed on growing leaves, causing thicker pod-like galls to form. Small white grubs can be detected inside presently afflicted leaf galls. After the adults emerge, the galls darken, dry out, and eventually fall off. The plant appears thin due to this defoliation, especially when the majority of the leaflets on a leaf are impacted. Injury is normally just cosmetically significant, but it can cause additional stress and lead to twig dieback. Attacks can be so severe in certain situations that all emerging buds are destroyed, resulting in a thicker club-like enlargement of the twigs.

Description about trunk and branch borers:

Various insects can bore into tree trunks and branches as adults or larvae, generating sawdust or sap-filled holes and weakening trees. Only trees that have been stressed by incorrect watering or maintenance, illness, or mechanical harm may be effectively attacked by most borers. Invasive insect borers, on the other hand, damage healthy trees. When a tree is afflicted with borers, there’s usually little you can do but boost the tree’s vitality, cut off affected limbs, or eliminate the tree.

Life History and Habits:

The adult stage of the honey locust podgall midge spends the winter under safe cover surrounding already affected honey locust crops. The adults are small gray-brown flies that swarm, developing honey locust buds as soon as they break open. The larvae feed on the leaflets, which twist and thicken into the distinctive pod gall, and the eggs are placed amid the developing leaves. Larvae are cream-colored maggots that mature in three to four weeks. Pupation takes place within the gallbladder. The old pupal skin is frequently ripped partially out at the gall hole when the adults emerge.