Schizomyia galiorum Kieffer, 1889

Fjellberg, Arne & Fedotova, Zoya, 2024, New records of gall midges (Diptera, Cecidomyiidae) from Norway, Norwegian Journal of Entomology 71, pp. 8-94 : 31-33

Schizomyia galiorum Kieffer, 1889

( Figure 14 )

Material: VE, Larvik: Skutebakken, 58.97265°N 9.88876°E ± 50m, 24 July 2019,

on Galium verum , 4L, leg. AF, BOLD : NHMO- ENT-548131, coll. NHMO; AK , Oslo: Sørkedalen, Finnerud , 60.031372°N 10.639183°E ± 150m, 12 August 2020, on Galium album , 2L, leg. HE , coll. NHMO; Bleikøya , 59.888634°N 10.736663°E ± 25m, 3 July 2020, on Galium verum , 1L, leg. TS & HE, BOLD : NHMO-ENT-548059, coll. NHMO; Raelingen: Årnestangen , 59.890131°N 11.103017°E ± 10m, 13 July 2020, on Galium verum, LMF , leg. TS , coll. NHMO; Lillestrøm: Fetsund , W of Jaer, 59.907832°N 11.159329°E ± 25m, 19 July 2020, on Galium verum , L, leg. TS , coll. NHMO; Ullensaker: Gardermoen , 60.1933889°N 11.0956111°E ± 40m, 23 July 2021, on Galium mollugo , 2L, leg. SH , coll. NHMO.

Biology and notes: Between one and three orange larvae develop in galled flowers of Asperula spp. , Cruciata spp. , Galium spp. and Rubia spp. ( Rubiaceae ). Infected flowers are strongly swollen and do not open. Bivoltine. Pupation may apparently take place in the gall or in the soil. We mostly collected larvae, but in one case (Årnestangen 2020) hatched imagines in the spring from a sample collected in July the previous summer. The species is redescribed in Fedotova (1997) and Elsayed et al. (2018).

Distribution: Widespread in Europe including Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. Algeria and Kazakhstan.

Figures

FIGURE 14. Schizomyia galiorum. A. Larvae in opened flower gall on Galium verum. B. Front of larva, ventral view. C. Female with characteristic, needle-like ovipositor typical of the genus. Photos: T. Starholm (A), H. Elven (B, C).