Douglas-fir Needle Midge – Conticaria pseudotsugae

Douglas-fir Needle Midge (Conticaria Pseudotsuga)

Latin Name: Conticaria pseudotsugae

Common Name: Douglas-fir Needle Midge

Appearance:

• Conticaria, The lower surface of Pseudotsugae galls, is swollen, while the upper surface is colored yellow, pink, or purple.
• The top side is a dirty yellow with a waxy, glossy sheen.
• The adults are tiny flies, about just the size of a mosquito and start to appear in the spring.
• They survive for a few days, just long enough to mate and lay eggs.

Hosts plants: Douglas-fir.

Territory: Douglas-fir Needle Midge is found throughout the range of its hosts

Damage insect caused by Douglas-fir Needle Midge:

The larvae of these midges overwinter in the soil beneath affected trees. Severe infestations can cause unacceptably significant quantities of needle loss, and recovering trees might take years. Needles loss is a severe problem in Christmas trees because of their aesthetic value.

Description of Sap Suckers:

Sapsuckers are a type of woodpecker that can be found in North America. Sapsucker wells can be easily recognized. The bird drills a dozen or more small holes in a horizontal line, each less than half an inch apart, with its chisel-like beak. Then it comes back to suck up the sap that has seeped out again and again. When the flow begins to diminish, usually after a few days, the bird makes the second row of holes slightly above the first. A rectangular pattern of neatly spaced holes in tree bark identifies a sapsucker at work. The most common sapsucker is the yellow-bellied sapsucker. It lives in the icy evergreen forests of Canada and Alaska. It migrates eastern states east of the Rockies and winters in the Southeastern United States.

Life history and habitat:

All three midges have life cycles similar to Douglas-fir Needle Midge (C. pseudotsugae. The maggots (mature larvae) spend the winter in the soil beneath host trees. The larvae pupate in the earth at the end of April and early May. Adult flies emerge from the needles and lay their eggs on the freshly extended hands. Larvae burrow into needles and stay in the first instar stage until early August. Most larvae are in their third and final instar by late September. From mid-October to December, larvae exit the galls, fall to the ground, and spin cocoons in which to hibernate.