Eriophyes confusus

Phytoptus quadripedes

Eriophyes quadripedes

Eriophyidae

Vasates

Acer rubrum

Alabama

Arkansas

Connecticut

Delaware

Florida

Georgia

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New York

North Carolina

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

Tennessee

Texas

Vermont

Virginia

West Virginia

Wisconsin

British Columbia

New Brunswick

Newfoundland and Labrador

Nova Scotia

Ontario

Prince Edward Island

Quebec

Acer saccharinum

California

Kansas

Nebraska

New Mexico

North Dakota

South Dakota

Washington

Manitoba

Saskatchewan

An Illustrated Guide to Plant Abnormalities Caused by Eriophyid Mites in North America

An illustrated catalogue of American insect galls

Key to American Insect Galls

Vasates quadripedes

Described from individuals found associated with P quadripes Shimer in bladder galls on the leaves of the soft maple, Acer saccharinum.

New Species of Maple Mites

Eriophyes sp.

Acer rubrum

Pimple gall

MA, May

Phytoptus quadripedes

Acer dasycarpum [saccharinum]

Bladder-like pouches above leaf

MA, June

Phyllocoptes quadripes

Acer rubrum, saccharinum

Small bladder like greenish or reddish leaf galls, diameter 2.5 mm, very abundant, on the upper surface.

Bladder galls on leaf upper surface., The mite causes a pouch gall type known as bladder gall, which is periodically common and abundant on the upper leaf surface of red and silver maples. The galls on the latter are variable in shape, rounded or elongate. Each has a slender short stem or neck. The length varies from 1.5 to 5 mm. They are solitary and are usually crowded and numerous at the basal part of the leaf blade in the angles between the larger veins. The exterior of the galls appears wrinkled and glossy. They change from yellowish green or dark green to pink, to brown, to black. The interior is hollow, and the exit hole, which is on the underside of the leaf, is lined with unicellular whitish hairs. In heavy infestations, the leaves become curled, form cylindrical rolls, and drop prematurely. The galls on red maple differ in size and form. They are smaller, I to 2 mm, somewhat beadlike, and without a basal constriction or neck. 
Vasates quadripedes is found on red and silver maples in the United States and Canada.

Vasates quadripedes

Eriophyes confusus
Phytoptus quadripedes
Eriophyes quadripedes

Hosts: Acer saccharinum, rubrum, pseudoplatanus [mistake?]

Relationships: Bladder galls on leaf upper surface

Notes: The gall in each maple is caused by a different species of Vasates

Range: Quebec, Nova Scotia, CA, IL, IN, KS, MD, MO, NJ, NY, OH, PA, SD, WA, WV, WI

Amrine Catalog

Amrine lists this mite on Acer pseudoplatanus based on a report in Batchelor G.S. 1952. The Eriophyid mites of the state of Washington. Wash. Agric. Exp. Stn., Tech. Bull., 6: 1-32. ; I believe this report is likely mistaken and the galls were instead formed by Aceria cephalonea. 

Galls formed by this mite on Acer saccharinum tend to be larger, more wrinkled, and redder, while those on Acer rubrum are tight, beadlike, and tan. 

Gallformers ID Notes