Celticecis celtiphyllia (Felt)

Mayetiola celtiphyllia
Phytophaga celtiphyllia

Hosts: Celtis laevigata, occidentalis, tenuifolia

Gall.--On twigs, petioles or major veins on either leaf surface and often distorting the leaf, usually in crowded clusters; campanulate, the flattened apex with central, fluted, elongate projection; surface green, turning buff or brown, entirely covered with long hairs not obscuring surface, lower portion smoothly rounded, upper portion beyond widest dimension may be furrowed; ca. 6 mm long and 5 mm in diameter at greatest width, distal appendage a further 1–2 mm long; connection to plant not prominent, ca. 1/3 gall diameter; wall woody, thin near base, much thickened at mid-length and beyond, larval chamber pear-shaped, the larva living in larger basal portion.

Biological notes.--For his gall description, Felt (1915b) cited Pergande’s unpublished notes, as follows: “very hard, obconic, the upper extremity produced as a long, slender nipple; at the base five or six low ridges. The galls are smooth inside and divided by a delicate though dense web into two compartments, the larva occurring in the lower.” This describes well the galls that are still at the USNM. The illustrations in Felt (1918, 1940) showed a separate series of young galls of this species growing on a stem, but their provenance was not indicated. With their slender shallotlike shape these galls look rather different from full-grown galls, but that is how the galls appear when the larvae are early second instars and before the galls broaden considerably. In Fort Pierce, Florida, galls were full grown with active second instars by March 7. Larvae had formed cocoons and were dehiscing by May 9. In both Louisiana and West Virginia, third instars were present by June 30. Galls did not always dehisce readily and were occasionally found with healthy larvae as late as September in West Virginia. Both second and third instars are very active and may be white to yellow-orange.

Distr.--This species is widespread in eastern U.S. on northern hackberry, dwarf hackberry and sugarberry.

AR, FL, GA, IA, KS, LA, MD, MS, OH, TX, WV

- Raymond J. Gagne, John C. Moser: (2013) The North American Gall Midges (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) of Hackberries (Cannabaceae: Celtis spp.)^©

Reference: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/51467028#page/24/mode/1up