Nami Uechi

Description of the soybean pod gall midge, Asphondylia yushimai sp. n. (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), a major pest of soybean and findings of host alternation

The soybean pod gall midge is an important pest of soybean in Japan and is known to occur also in Indonesia and China. This gall midge is described from Japan as Asphondylia yushimai sp. n. and is clearly distinguished from its congeners by the arrangement of the lower frontal horns of the pupa and the sequence of the mtDNA COI region. It is concluded that Prunus zippeliana Miquel is a winter host of the soybean pod gall midge since haplotypes of the soybean pod gall midge coincide with those of the Prunus fruit gall midge that produces fruit galls on P. zippeliana. In addition, phenological and distributional information on the two gall midges and on their host plants supports the identification of the winter host. In Japan, the soybean pod gall midge overwinters as a first instar in the fruit galls on P. zippeliana and emerges as an adult from the galls in May. In summer and autumn, the soybean pod gall midge has two or more generations in the pods of soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merrill or wild fabaceous and caesalpiniaceous plants. Thus host alternation by A. yushimai is confirmed. This is the second finding of host alternation by a species of Asphondylia, the first instance being that of Asphondylia gennadii (Marchal) in Cyprus.

Confirmation by DNA analysis that Contarinia maculipennis (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) is a polyphagous pest of orchids and other unrelated cultivated plants

The cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene in mitochondrial DNA of 53 larvae of Contarinia maculipennis Felt from flower buds of various host plants, collected from Hawaii, Japan and Thailand was analysed. Monophyly of the clade including C. maculipennis from Hawaii, Thailand and Japan was supported. There was no sequential variation within the specimens from Hawaii and Japan, which differed from one another by 6 bp (1.37%). Three haplotypes were recognized in specimens from Thailand but differences from Hawaiian and Japanese specimens were small. Overall, there were no differences in the 146 deduced amino acid residues. It is therefore concluded that C. maculipennis is a polyphagous species that can develop on plant hosts representing at least seven botanical families. This pest of Dendrobium flower buds in glasshouses is considered to have entered Hawaii, Florida and Japan from Southeast Asia, and was recently intercepted in the Netherlands. Infestations have established and spread in orchid glasshouses, causing concern about the possibility of more extensive damage to orchids and to crops, such as bitter gourd, grown in close proximity to orchid glasshouses in Japan. The potential usefulness of DNA analysis in determining host plant ranges of morphologically identical cecidomyiid species that are currently identified solely on differences of host plant is emphasized.

Life History Patterns and Host Ranges of the Genus Asphondylia (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae)

Based on ecological, morphological, distributional, and molecular data, the Japanese Asphondylia gall midges (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) were classified into the following five groups in terms of life history patterns and host ranges: (I) univoltine and monophagous or oligophagous species; (II) bivoltine species, which can complete their annual life cycle on a single host plant species by alternating between different host organs; (III) multivoltine species on one organ of a single host plant; (IV) multivoltine species, which alternate between different host plants seasonally to complete their annual life cycle; (V) univoltine and oligophagous species but partly bi- or multivoltine by utilizing occasional alternate hosts. Asphondylia species seem to be less constrained by the phenology of their host plants than other leaf gallers and to have flexible potential for adaptation of their life history strategy to the habitat and life style of their host plants. The potential may be derived from strong flight ability in search for suitable plants and the existence of a fungal symbiont on whose hyphae the larvae feed within galls. The categorization of life history patterns could contribute to future evolutionary studies of Asphondylia life histories when phylogenetic relationships among the species are analyzed.

Detection of an invasive gall‐inducing pest, Quadrastichus erythrinae (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), causing damage to Erythrina variegata L. (Fabaceae) in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan

In 2005, Quadrastichus erythrinae Kim, 2004 (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), which induces stem, petiole, and leaf galls on Erythrina variegata L. (Fabaceae), was found on the following six islands in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan: Okinawa, Kume, Miyako, Ishigaki, Iriomote, and Hateruma. Galls were also found in Vietnam. In Japan, no further infestation records have been reported from any of Japans other south‐western prefectures where Erythrina species grow. Because no Erythrina galls were observed in Okinawa Prefecture before 2005, Q. erythrinae seems to have invaded quite recently.

Polymorphism of axillary bud galls induced by Rhopalomyia longitubifex (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) on Artemisia princeps and A. montana (Asteraceae) in Japan and Korea, with designation of new synonyms

In the past, Rhopalomyia longitubifex, Rhopalomyia shinjii, and Rhopalomyia sp. (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) have been regarded as independent species based on differences in the sizes and shapes of axillary bud galls induced on Artemisia montana (Asteraceae) in Japan and A. princeps in Japan and Korea. However, comparison of morphological features and molecular sequencing data indicate that these Rhopalomyia gall midges are identical and that the differences in gall shape are polymorphisms, although the measurements of gall height and diameter overlap slightly. This finding suggests that although galls have frequently been regarded as extensions of the phenotype of a species, differences in gall shape may not always be reliable for identifying gall‐inducing cecidomyiids. The older name, R. longitubifex, is applied to these gall midges, and the names that were applied to this species on later occasions are revised or synonymized. The mature and immature stages of R. longitubifex are redescribed and information on the distribution, host range, and gall size of this species is provided. We also discuss the role of gall polymorphism in the early stages of speciation.

New information on host plants and distribution ranges of an invasive gall midge, Contarinia maculipennis (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), and its congeners in Japan

Gall midges of the genus Contarinia (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) that infest the flower buds of various plant species have been newly found in Japan in recent years. Those infesting the flower buds of Pseuderanthemum laxiflorum (A. Gray) Hubbard ex Baillon (Amaranthaceae) and Jasminum sambac (Linnaeus) Aiton (Oleaceae) in Okinawa Prefecture, and Dendrobium spp. (Orchidaceae) in Mie Prefecture were identified, on the basis of morphological features and molecular information, as an invasive gall midge, C. maculipennis Felt. C. maculipennis was recorded in Mie Prefecture for the first time, and P. laxiflorum is newly regarded as one of the host plants of C. maculipennis. Three other Contarinia gall midges that we found infesting the flower buds of Lycopersicon esculentum Miller, Capsicum annuum Linnaeus (Solanaceae), and Oxalis corniculata Linnaeus (Oxalidaceae) were not identical with C. maculipennis. Among these, the first two, which infested solanaceous plants, were identical. However, the species other than C. maculipennis could not be identified to the species level because morphological differences were obscure and DNA sequencing data of allied congeners have not yet been registered on GenBank.

Redefinition of Oligotrophus (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) based on morphological and molecular attributes of species from galls on Juniperus (Cupressaceae) in Britain and Japan

Morphological and molecular attributes of four species of Cecidomyiidae that induce galls on junipers, Juniperus spp., in Britain and Japan were used to redefine the genus Oligotrophus Latreille, which now includes Arceuthomyia Kieffer and Schmidtiella Rübsaamen (new synonyms). Illustrated morphological descriptions are provided for the four species Oligotrophus juniperinus (Linnaeus), Oligotrophus panteli Kieffer, Oligotrophus gemmarum (Rübsaamen) (new combination) and Oligotrophus nezu Kikuti (= Arceuthomyia nakaharai Inouye (new synonymy)) and phylogenies based on partial sequencing of the mitochondrial 12S rRNA gene are reported.

Description and ecological traits of a new species of Pitydiplosis (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) that induces leaf galls on Pueraria (Fabaceae) in East Asia, with a possible diversification scenario of intraspecific groups.

A gall midge that induces thick lenticular galls on leaflets of Pueraria species (Fabaceae) in Japan, mainland China, Taiwan and South Korea is described as Pitydiplosis puerariae sp. nov. (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae). Tanaostigmodes puerariae (Hymenoptera: Tanaostigmatidae), described earlier from mainland China as an inducer of the lenticular gall, is regarded to be an inquiline. Pitydiplosis puerariae is distinguishable from the only known congener, the Nearctic Pitydiplosis packardi, by the male genitalia with entire aedeagus and with hypoproct that is as long as cerci and bilobed with a U‐shaped emargination. DNA sequencing data indicate the existence of three genetically different intraspecific groups: (i) “YNT‐montana group” induces galls on Pueraria montana on the Yaeyama Islands, Japan and in northern Taiwan; (ii) “CT‐montana group” on P. montana in central Taiwan; (iii) and “JCK‐lobata group” on Pueraria lobata in mainland China, South Korea and Japan north of Okinoerabu Island. A possible diversification scenario of the three groups is hypothesized based on DNA sequencing data and geohistorical information. A distribution gap of the gall midge on five islands between Tokunoshima and Ishigaki Islands, Japan was confirmed by intensive field surveys. Ecological traits and adult behavior of Pity. puerariae are also described. Its possibility as a potential biological control agent against P. lobata seems counter‐indicated.

Host range of braconid species (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) that attack Asphondyliini (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) in Japan

We reared six idiobiont braconids, Bracon asphondyliae, B. sunosei, B. tamabae, Simplicibracon curticaudis, Testudobracon longicaudis and T. pleuralis from 22 identified species and 11 unidentified segregates of Asphondyliini (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) in Japan. A total of 22 cecidomyiid species and segregates were newly recorded as hosts of the braconids. Analysis of cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) did not show any evidence of host races among the braconids. Bracon sunosei, which was synonymized with B. asphondyliae, is restored to a valid species. The host range of the braconid species seemed to be related to the lineage of host genera within Asphondyliini.

Key-factor/key-stage analysis of long-term life table data for a fruit gall midge, Asphondylia sphaera (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae)

1. Population dynamics of Asphondylia sphaera Monzen (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), a species that induces fruit galls on Ligustrum japonicum (Oleaceae), was studied from 1970 to 1996 in broad‐leaved evergreen forests in Kagoshima, southern Japan. The numbers of fruit galls and emerging adults fluctuated greatly from year to year along with alternate year flowering of the host plant.