Asphondylia solidaginis Beutenmuller 1907
Creators: name: Dorchin, Netta
name: Joy, Jeffrey B.
name: Hilke, Lukas K.
name: Wise, Michael J.
name: Abrahamson, Warren G.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Cecidomyiidae
Asphondylia
Asphondylia solidaginis

description: ASPHONDYLIA SOLIDAGINIS BEUTENMÜLLER, 1907   
 Asphondylia solidaginis Beutenmüller, 1907: 305.   
 Host plants   
 Solidago altissima and S. gigantea.   
 Gall and biology   
 This species has several generations a year and it forms two very different types of galls. The galls that are formed in spring and early summer are blister leaf galls that join two (and sometimes three or four) leaves together like a snap (Figs 7–10). When made of two leaves, one leaf contributes the bottom part of the gall and the other contributes the upper part to form a singlechambered gall that is thickly lined by white mycelium on the inside. An individual leaf can participate in multiple galls, forming the upper part of some and the bottom part of others. These ‘bifoliate’ galls (termed snap galls in this paper) are very abundant on S. altissima and can sometimes also be found on S. gigantea. Adults emerge from the galls in June and July. From June to August, a rosette gall also appears in the apical or axillary buds of S. altissima. These rosette galls are small (3–5 cm in diameter), composed of shortened leaves, and contain a single chamber at their centre (Fig. 13). The chamber is formed by several very short leaves that are attached together to form a small, rigid cone, and is lined internally by white mycelium. Adults emerge from these rosette galls from late June to late August, when the leaf snap galls become less abundant. Although the snap galls dominate in early summer and the rosette galls dominate in late summer, the two types overlap in June–July, and the type of gall that will result from an oviposition event is apparently determined by the location in the plant where the egg is laid. As is nicely described by Beutenmüller (1907), the snap galls are formed in immature leaves in young, rapidly growing buds, so that the leaves that form the gall remain attached as they grow. The later-developing rosette galls are probably induced in more mature buds that develop more slowly.   
 Adult   
 Characters as described in A. monacha except for the following.   
 Head: Flagellomere 1/flagellomere 5 ratio = 1.19–1.35 in male (N = 7), 1.53–1.72 in female (N = 5).   
 Thorax: Wing length 2.15–2.62 mm in males (N = 7), 2.26–2.80 mm in females (N = 5).   
 Female abdomen: Sclerotized part of ovipositor 2.44– 3.20 times as long as sternite 7 (N = 6).   
 Male terminalia: Aedeagus cylindrical, same width throughout length, tapered at apex.   
 Larva (third instar)   
 Orange; integument covered by round, flat bumps. Length 2.66–3.59 mm (N = 7). Antennae about 1.5 times as long as wide; cephalic apodeme as long as head capsule. Spatula shape relatively uniform among larvae from S. altissima (Figs 38, 39), with lateral teeth the same length or slightly longer than median teeth, and equal gaps between all teeth. In larvae from S. gigantea, median teeth considerably smaller than lateral teeth, and gap between median teeth much deeper than gap between lateral and median teeth (Figs 42–44). Shaft well sclerotized in larvae from both host plants.   
 Pupa (Figs 66, 67)   
 Characters as described in A. monacha, except for the following: antennal horns long and slender, almost straight (Fig. 67), apices splayed, pointed and finely serrated in frontal view (Fig. 66); cephalic seta minute; upper facial horn divided into two apices separated by deep notch.   
 Notes   
 We did not find morphological differences among adults or immature stages from the two types of galls induced by this species, and our molecular analysis suggests that individuals from these galls belong to the same species, as the respective haplotypes are intermingled. Although adult morphology is virtually identical between individuals from A. solidaginis and A. monacha, their pupae differ in the shape of the antennal horns, which are shorter and wider in A. monacha than in A. solidaginis (as well as than those of all other Asphondylia species from Solidago described in this paper). Our molecular analysis shows that A. solidaginis uses S. gigantea as a complementary host on which it induces snap galls (but never bud galls), whereas snap galls on S. rugosa and E. graminifolia belong to different species.   
 SYSTEMATICS OF GOLDENROD ASPHONDYLIA 281   
 Asphondylia solidaginis snap galls on S. altissima cannot be mistaken for any other gall on this host, but the bud galls induced by this species later in the season may superficially resemble bud galls of other Diptera on this plant. The differences among these galls were summarized above.   
 Material examined   
 The type series of A. solidaginis, consisting of several male and female specimens from New York, New Jersey, and North Carolina, could not be located in the American Museum of Natural History in New York, where it was originally deposited, and is presumed to be lost (D. Grimaldi, pers. comm.). We therefore designate a neotype for this species as follows.   
 Neotype: Pupal exuviae, USA, PA, Dale’s Ridge, 18 June 2005, N. Dorchin; taken from leaf snap gall on S. altissima. The neotype is mounted on a permanent microscope slide in Euparal and is deposited in the USNM.   
Other material examined in this study includes the following.  
 From S. altissima snap galls: 4 exuviae, USA, MD, Beltsville, July 1979, R.J. Gagné; 1 larva, USA, PA, Pittsburgh, Weible Rd., 22 June 1991, J. Plakidas (USNM); 1 larva, USA, PA, Dale’s Ridge, 19 June 2006, N. Dorchin; 1 larva, USA, PA, Bucknell University Chillisquaque Creek Natural Area, 21 June 2006; 1 larva, USA, PA, Montour Environmental Preserve, 30 June 2006, N. Dorchin; 1 larva, USA, PA, Bucknell University Chillisquaque Creek Natural Area, 7 June 2007, N. Dorchin; 1♂, 2♀, USA, PA Montour Environmental Preserve, 12 June 2007, N. Dorchin; 1♂, 3♀, USA, PA, Mifflinburg, 14 June 2007, N. Dorchin; 1 larva, USA, PA, Dale’s Ridge, 17 June 2007, N. Dorchin; 3♂, 1♀, USA, PA, Bucknell University Chillisquaque Creek Natural Area, 24 June 2007, N. Dorchin; 8 pupae, USA, PA, multiple localities, June– July 2006, 2007, N. Dorchin (on SEM stubs).   
 From S. altissima rosette galls: 2 larvae, USA, PA, Lairdsville, 19 July 2007, N. Dorchin; 2 exuviae, 1♂, 1♀, USA, PA, Route 642 (40°59.114′N 76°38.567′W), 20 July 2007, N. Dorchin and D. Ryan; 1♂, 1♀, USA, PA, Lewisburg, Furnace Road, 26 July 2007, D. Ryan; 1♀, USA, PA, Lewisburg, Stein Lane, 15 August 2007, N. Dorchin; 2 pupae, USA, PA, Lairdsville, July 2007, N. Dorchin (on SEM stubs).   
 From S. gigantea snap galls: 1 larva, USA, PA, Montour Environmental Preserve, 20 June 2006, N. Dorchin; 1 larva, 1 exuviae, USA, PA, Dale’s Ridge, 19 June 2006, N. Dorchin and C. Clarkin; 1♂, USA, PA, Bucknell University Chillisquaque Creek Natural Area, 24 June 2007, N. Dorchin; 1 larva, 1 exuviae, 1♂, USA, PA, Dale’s Ridge, 5 July 2007, N. Dorchin and D. Ryan; 4 pupae, USA, PA, multiple localities, June–July 2006, 2007, N. Dorchin (on SEM stubs).
description: Published as part of Dorchin, Netta, Joy, Jeffrey B., Hilke, Lukas K., Wise, Michael J. & Abrahamson, Warren G., 2015, Taxonomy and phylogeny of the Asphondylia species (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) of North American goldenrods: challenging morphology, complex host associations, and cryptic speciation, pp. 265-304 in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 174 (2) on pages 280-281, DOI: 10.1111/zoj.12234, http://zenodo.org/record/5337673