A list of the 356 species of Cecidomyiidae (Diptera) recorded from Finland is presented, which comprises 6 Lestremiinae, 156 Micromyinae, 16 Winnertziinae, 69 Porricondylinae, and 109 Cecidomyiinae. The faunistic knowledge of Finnish Winnertziinae, Porricondylinae and Cecidomyiinae is regarded as particularly poor. Based on species numbers known from other countries in Europe, a conservative es...

Dasineura (Diptera, Cecidomyiidae) is the gall midge genus with the highest number of known species (466 throughout the world). Only 39 species have been described from the Neotropics, being 10 from Brazil. Many records of not determined species are found in the literature. Furthermore, many unidentified specimens are deposited in the Cecidomyiidae Collection of the Museu Nacional/UFRJ, which c...

A total of 12 gnat species are reported for the first time from Finland (3 Cecidomyiidae, 1 Keroplatidae, 8 Mycetophilidae), and the occurrence of Macroceranigropicea Lundström in Finland is verified. All material was collected from the Finnish Lapland, mainly from the north boreal ecoregion. Two of the recorded species are likely to be pyrophilous, associated with forest fire sites. A photo of...

Both the wheat midge (Sitodiplosis mosellana) (Géhin) (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) and the Hessian fly (Mayetiola destructor) (Say) (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) belong to a group of insects called gall midges (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), and both are destructive pests of wheat. From Hessian fly larvae, a large number of genes have been identified to encode secreted salivary gland proteins (SSGPs), which a...

The development of gall shapes has been attributed to the feeding behavior of the galling insects and how the host tissues react to galling stimuli, which ultimately culminate in a variable set of structural responses. A superhost of galling herbivores, Copaifera langsdorffii, hosts a bizarre "horn-shaped" leaflet gall morphotype induced by an unidentified species of Diptera: Cecidomyiidae. By ...

Many hypotheses have been proposed to explain the diversity of gall-midge insects (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), some of them taking into account plant diversity. This study aims to test the importance of size, age and composition of host plant taxa in the diversity of Cecidomyiidae. For this we used inventories data on the diversity of galling and host plants in Brazil. We found that Asterales, Myr...

Lopesia davillae, a new species of gall midge associated with the reproductive structures of Davilla rugosa (Dilleniaceae), is described and illustrated (larva, pupa, male, female, and damage) based on material collected in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This new species is compared with its congeneric species. This is the first record of Lopesia on Dilleniaceae.

Rileya hegeli Girault, 1916 (Hymenoptera, Eurytomidae) was previously known in USA, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Venezuela and, Brazil, the states of Minas Gerais and Rio Grande do Sul. Here, we newly report this species from Brazilian municipalities Alto Paraíso de Goiás, Goiás state, obtained through collections with Malaise traps, Ribeirão Preto Águas São Pedro...

Lophodiplosis trifida Gagné, an Australian gall midge on paperbark, Melaleuca quinquenervia (Myrtaceae), is a recent release in southern Florida for the biological control of that host. The larval stage is described for the first time and compared to that of other Lophodiplosis species. Photos of galls and illustrations of larvae are provided. Second and third instars of L. trifida are unusual ...