Neolasioptera verbesinae

Neolasioptera imprimata

Plakidas (1994: figs. 10–11) ascribed galls on the main stem to *N. verbesinae* and those among the upper branchlets to his *N. incisa*. Both illustrations in Plakidas (1994) show typical galls of *N. verbesinae*. Whether at the lower or upper stem and regardless of size, *N. verbesinae* galls (Figs. 5–7) are characteristically ovate with an excessive internal growth of soft tissue through which larvae appear to bore haphazardly.
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Galls are ovate swellings of the stem of *Verbesina* spp. that are mostly filled with a soft tissue into which the growing larvae burrow (Fig. 6). Larval tunnels become gradually reinforced and surrounded by a persistent hard white substance while the intervening material becomes increasingly soft with age and evanesces in winter (Fig. 7). Overwintering larvae form a silken lining inside the brittle cover and pupate in place. There are at least two generations per year based on the fact that galls at plant midheight have empty tunnels in late summer.

...on *Verbesina alternifolia* and ... on *V. virginica*.
...
*Neolasioptera imprimata* is responsible for a slender, woody, tapered swelling on stems of *V. alternifolia* and *V. virginica* (Figs. 3–4). The gall is narrow, streamlined, and much less conspicuous than that of *N. verbesinae* and may bear one to four larvae that grow along the central longitudinal stem axis where they appear to hollow out and enlarge the pith. Separate galls may be found growing in tandem.

Neolasioptera spp. (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) from stem galls of Verbesina (Asteraceae) with the description of a new species