Neolasioptera truncata

Dasineura laquerrarum

Ametrodiplosis geminata

Ametrodiplosis recondita

Lasioptera lorrainae

Biological notes.—This species is responsible for a woody, fusiform swelling (Figs. 11–12), 5–10 mm long on the stems and branchlets of mountain mints. The swelling is at first green, becoming dark purplish brown. A single yellow larva lives in the central longitudinal axis where it appears to hollow out the pith

This species is responsible for the first new gall (Figs. 7–8) to appear in spring on Pycnanthemum tenuifolium. In late April in eastern West Virginia, galls can be found at the tips of plants that are less than 15 cm tall. A gall comprises one or two long, green, outer leaves and a short, thick, apically rounded inner pair

Biological notes.—Galls (Figs. 9–10) occur on branch tips and are 2–3 mm long and formed of two opposing, cuplike, fused, hemispherical leaves. The one to several larvae inside are yellow with green guts. When full-grown, larvae force their way through the solid tip of the gall and drop to the soil. The persistent galls then turn purple or brown. Galls began to appear in early July in eastern West Virginia and became much more common as the season progressed. New galls continued to appear through the beginning of September.

Distribution.—I found this species in Maryland and West Virginia on P. tenuifolium, in Maryland on P. verticillatum, in Connecticut on P. virginianum, and Virginia and North Carolina on P. flexuosum. I did not find this species on P. muticum growing among P. tenuifolium in Laurel, Maryland, or on P. muticum in Clarksburg, Maryland

Distribution.—I found this species in West Virginia and Maryland on P. tenuifolium, in Maryland on P. muticum and P. verticillatum, in Virginia on P. flexuosum, and in Connecticut on P. virginianum.

Biological notes.—Galls (Figs. 2–4)
are 4–8 mm in diameter, irregularly spheroid, dirty-white to brown outgrowths of rhizome buds. Each harbors one to several larvae, each in its own chamber. Larvae are yellow with a bright green gut and can be found at all seasons of the year. Pupation occurs in the galls and adults can be reared all summer long. An inquiline, described below as Hypogeadiplosis intrusa, is an occasional inhabitant in the galls.

Biological notes.—Galls of L. lorrainae (Figs. 5–6) are spheroid, 5–8 mm in diameter, depending on the number of larvae inside, and occur in early summer on lateral twiglets and later near branch tips. Galls collected in Iowa were found subtending flower heads, but I never saw this elsewhere. A gall may have 1–11 yellow larvae, each in a separate elongate, ovoid chamber whose individual walls become increasingly hard as the larvae mature.

Galls are light green and fleshy with first instars in late June in West Virginia and Maryland when first observed, but become brown and harden as the season progresses

The Gall Midges (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) of Mountainmints, Pycnanthemum Spp. (Lamiaceae)