Baldratia fuscoanulata

Lasioptera clarkei

Asteromyia nigrina

Asteromyia sylvestris

Asteromyia fuscoanulata

Cecidomyiidae

Asteromyia

Eurybia compacta

Delaware

Georgia

Maryland

New Jersey

North Carolina

South Carolina

Virginia

Eurybia divaricata

Alabama

Connecticut

District Of Columbia

Kentucky

Maine

Massachusetts

New Hampshire

New York

Ohio

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

Tennessee

Vermont

West Virginia

Ontario

Quebec

Eurybia macrophylla

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Michigan

Minnesota

Missouri

Wisconsin

Manitoba

New Brunswick

Nova Scotia

Prince Edward Island

Eurybia paludosa

Florida

Eurybia radula

Newfoundland and Labrador

Eurybia radulina

California

Oregon

Washington

British Columbia

Eurybia spectabilis

Eurybia surculosa

Symphyotrichum cordifolium

Arkansas

Kansas

Mississippi

Nebraska

North Dakota

Oklahoma

South Dakota

Texas

Asteromyia clarkei

"several females of *[Lasioptera clarkei [A. clarkei]]* were reared 1/18/1909 from a whitish, circular, blister gall on the leaves of *Aster macrophyllus* collected by Cora H. Clarke at Magnolia, Mass., October 12, 1908. Evidently this form winters in the gall, and from the character of its nidus we would be inclined to refer it to the genus *Asteromyia*.... The galls formed by this species occur on the under side of the leaf, scarcely showing above. They are nearly circular, 2 to 3 mm in diameter, yellowish white and with an irregular, central, dark puncture..."
...
"yellowish or brownish blister leaf galls of *[Asteromyia sylvestris [A. clarkei]]* were very abundant October 22, 1914 on *Aster cordifolius* *[Symphyotrichum cordifolium]* at Mount Kisco NY…"

32nd report of the state entomologist on injurious and other insects of the state of New York 1916: Appendix: a study of gall midges V

"The characteristic color of the galls is only in the epidermis, which is 1 cell layer thick. When the epidermis is peeled away, a mat of white fungal tissue can be seen below...hard, black carbonaceous material...encases the larva or larvae."

[He lists the following host records for this species, verified by both host and insect identification: *Aster claytoni [Eurybia divaricata]*, *Aster cordifolius [Symphyotrichum cordifolium]*, *Aster divaricatus [Eurybia divaricata]*, *Aster gracilis [Eurybia compacta]*, *Aster macrophyllus [Eurybia macrophylla]*, *Aster paludosus [Eurybia paludosa]*, *Aster radula [Eurybia radula]*, *Aster spectabilis [Eurybia spectabilis]*, *Aster surculosus [Eurybia surculosa]*]

[Additionally, he lists *Eurybia radulina* as a possible *Asteromyia sp.* host based on observations of galls only (no insect material was available). Included here, provisionally, because the host is in the same genus as most (all?) *A. clarkei* hosts, but these gall records may alternatively represent a distinct midge species.]

A Taxonomic Revision of the Genus Asteromyia (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae)

*Asteromyia clarkei* and *Asteromyia laeve* both make black-blister galls on the leaves of North American asters. Gagné (1968) showed that the insects themselves are clearly differentiable morphologically, both as adults (either sex) and as larvae.   

Since Gagné (1968), the North American species in the genus *Aster* have been split into several smaller genera. Most of them are now in the genus *Symphyotrichum*, but there are other "former-*Aster*" genera, including *Eurybia*, *Sericocarpus*, and several others. 

Nearly all of the former-*Aster* hosts Gagné (1968) reported for *Asteromyia laeviana* now fall into *Symphyotrichum* and nearly all of the hosts for *Asteromyia clarkei* fall into *Eurybia*. 

The only published exception to this convenient pattern, for *Asteromyia clarkei*, is:
*Symphyotrichum cordifolium* - this record is based on a New York collection of adults reared from galls by E. P. Felt in 1914. There is also [this BugGuide gall observation](https://bugguide.net/node/view/1631582) by M. J. Hatfield, on genuine *Symphyotrichum cordifolium* (no *Euthamia* lookalikes are in range) from which Hatfield reared adults that Gagné subsequently identified as *Asteromyia clarkei*.
 
Gagné (1968) also cautioned that further study may reveal other plants capable of hosting either midge species. He didn't explicitly mention *S. cordifolium* in these comments but it is present as a host under his descriptions of both midge species.

Gallformers ID Notes