Lasioptera solani

Anthonomus nigrinus

Stem  galls  of  cecidomyiid  flies  were  regularly  found  in some  populations  over  the  course  of  this  study,  but  they  were  never common, and single ramets rarely contained more than one or two galls. These galls consist of small swellings on the main stem, lateral stems, or on  racemes  between  fruits.  Only  4  of  the  960  plants  in  the  transplant experiment  were  galled.  All  of  the  individuals  I  have  reared  from  these galls  were  Lasioptera  solani,  though  a  species  of  Neolasioptera is  reported to be more common in horsenettle (Gagné 1989). Rearing of these gall midges proved difficult because the vast majority of galls were parasitized by proctotrupoid wasps. The small size of the galls and low densities  of  these  gall  midges  suggest  that  they  are  likely  to  have  relatively little impact on horsenettle.

The female chews a hole into a flower bud and oviposits onto an anther. She then plugs the hole with a fecal pellet and proceeds to chew the flower’s pedicel. Such flower buds either fall off immediately or die attached to the raceme and fall a few days later. Larvae feed and pupate inside the unopened flower buds.

The herbivores of Solanum carolinense (Horsenettle) in northern Virginia: natural history and damage assessment