Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T11:26:26.843Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Gall Midges attacking the Seed-heads of Cocksfoot, Dactylis glomerata, L

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

H. F. Barnes
H. F. Barnes
Affiliation:
Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

An account is given of four gall midges whose larvae damage the seed of cocksfoot, viz. Contarinia dactylidis (H. Lw.), Dasyneura dactylidis, Metcalfe, Sitodiplosis dactylidis which is described from England and Ireland in the present paper, and Stenodiplosis geniculati, Reuter. The occurrence of predacious midges of the genus Lestodiplosis is also noted.

A short section is devoted to characters by which these midges can be distinguished.

Stenodiplosis geniculati is recorded from one English and two Irish localities on cocksfoot grass for the first time, hitherto it has always been recorded from foxtail. These midges, together with some experimentally bred on cocksfoot from foxtail parents, exhibit the typical characters of this species.

A new variety, Stenodiplosis geniculati var. dactylidis, is described from cocksfoot in New Zealand.

In a discussion of the host-plant specificity of gall midges attacking grass seeds, it is suggested that the present discovery of S. geniculati on cocksfoot in England and Ireland and the occurrence in New Zealand of this new variety exhibiting distinct morphological characters are two steps in the evolution of a new species.

I am indebted to Miss F. M. L. Sheffield for taking the photographs used to illustrate Plate IV. They were taken to show the comparative lengths of the antennal segments and not the chaetotaxy. I am also indebted to Mr. P. S. Milne who took the photographs used to illustrate Plate V.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , April 1940 , pp. 111 - 119
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1940

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bagnall, R. S. & Harrison, J. W. H. (1918). A preliminary catalogue of British Cecidomyidae (Diptera) with special reference to the gall-midges of the north of England.—Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1917, pp. 346–426.Google Scholar
Barnes, H. F. (1930). On the biology of the gall-midges (Cecidomyidae) attacking meadow foxtail grass (Alopecurus pratensis), including the description of one new species.—Ann. Appl. Biol., 17, pp. 339–66.Google Scholar
Cockayne, A. H. (1916). The meadow foxtail-midge.—N.Z.J. Agric., 13, pp. 459–66.Google Scholar
Gilbert, H. A. (1935). The occurrence of two species of Cecidomyids on meadow foxtail (Alopecurus pratensis L.) hitherto unreported in Canada.—Canad. Ent., 67, pp. 154–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, D. P. (1936). Gall midges affecting grass seed production in mid-Wales.—Welsh J. Agric., 12, pp. 192–7.Google Scholar
Loew, H. (1851). Zur Kenntniss der Gallmücken.—Linn. Ent., 5, pp. 370–84.Google Scholar
Metcalfe, Margot E. (1933). Some Cecidomyidae attacking the seed of Dactylis glomerata L. and Lolium perenne L.—Ann. Appl. Biol., 20, pp. 327–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plotnikov, V. I. (1926). Insects injurious to agricultural plants in Central Asia (in Russian). (pp. 236–8) 292 pp., 227 figs. Tashkent.Google Scholar
Reuter, E. (1895). Zwei neue Cecidomyinen.—Acta Soc. Fauna Flora fenn., 11, pp. 1–14.Google Scholar