Diplolepis tumida (Bassett, 1890)

Nomenclature: Rhodites tumidus Bassett, 1890 | Diplolepis tuberculatrix var. tumida form xerophilaKinsey and Ayres, 1922

Feeds on: Produces galls on Rosa L. sp. [R woodsii selected as a placeholder]

Distribution: United States: Utah

Diplolepis tumida (Bass.).

Rosa sp.
Abrupt terminal stem swelling, 18–51 mm. in dia. and many-celled. Gall in Amer. Ent. Soc. is without spines. S. Utah

Rhodites tumidus n.sp

'They are globular, and from three-fourths to one and one-fourth inches in diameter, and of the same spongy cellular consistence, internally, as R. radicum. They appear to be enormously developed leaf buds, for the terminal half of many of them bears a faint resemblance to a half-opened rose, or a miniature cabbage, the line on the surface being the outlines of leaves. They grow on the end of a woody stem, and are in most cases nearly sessile, though in a few the stem is half an inch long. The upper half of the gall is covered with a thin, white, papery epidermis, which is usually torn and curled by the rapid growth of the gall itself.

The true bark beneath is red or brown, and quite smooth in fresh galls, but wrinkled when they become dry. The apex of several galls is crowned with sharp spines and such are found on the base, and stem of others. It is plain that each gall is a foreshortened branch and the gall-fly must lay her eggs in it at an early stage of its development. These galls are polythalamous.'