5
GALLS
GALL RECORDER’S REPORT FOR 2021, INCLUDING ASPHONDYLIA LATHYRI RÜBSAAMEN, CONTARINIA ACROCECIS STELTER AND DASINEURA ACERIS (SHIMAL) (DIPTERA: CECIDOMYIIDAE) NEW TO THE SUFFOLK LIST JERRY BOWDREY Interest in galls is on the increase internationally and new publications, together with social media and websites, have meant it is now usually possible to identify problem specimens reliably and quickly. In addition, new species are being added to the British list on a regular basis and can also be tracked as they spread across Europe. The Suffolk records below are my own and cover mainly the years 2020-2021. Diptera: Cecidomyiidae - Gall midges Three new Suffolk species not included in the Suffolk Diptera checklist and additions, (Vincent, 2019; Bowdrey 2020), were found during 2021. Nomenclature follows Gagné & Jaschhof (2021).
b
Contarinia acrocecis Stelter New to Suffolk Kelsale-cum-Carlton, Tiggins Lane (TM387657) 30.vii.2021. (Bowdrey, 2021). Figure 1. Asphondylia lathyri A rosette gall on the terminal shoot of Galium a: galled pod, b: opened to mollugo (Hedge Bedstraw) (Fig. 2) was originally show larva. identified as being induced by Contarinia molluginis (Rübsaamen), but examination of the sternal spatula of a dead larva within the gall more closely resembled that of C. acroceris figured by Stelter (1962). This identification was suggested by Danish specialist Hans-Henrik Bruun from images posted on the British Plant Gall Facebook Group and supported from the same images by Belgian specialist Sébastien Carbonnelle (pers. comm.). Interestingly, C. acrocecis was provisionally identified by Harris (2014) from inflorescence galls on G. mollugo collected in 2013 and 2014 at Hundon in Figure 2. Gall of Contarinia Suffolk (TL4773) by Michael Chinery, but was not acrocecis showing distorted added to the British list as there were discrepancies inner leaves. in the site of the gall and larval colouration. It now seems that both plant organs can be galled, as suggested by Buhr (1964).
Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 57 (2021)
J. Bowdrey
a
J. Bowdrey
Asphondylia lathyri Rübsaamen New to Suffolk Middleton TM405666 11. viii.2021. A single galled pod containing a yellowish orange larva (Fig. 1 a&b) was found on a stand of Lathyrus pratensis (Meadow vetchling) growing on a roadside verge at Middleton-cum-Fordley.