''Contarinia zauschneriae'', also known as the California fuchsia gall midge, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

gall midge Cecidomyiidae is a family of diptera, flies known as gall midges or gall gnats. As the name implies, the larvae of most gall midges feed within plant tissue, creating abnormal plant growths called galls. Cecidomyiidae are very fragile small in ...

that induces roselle-form bud galls on ''

Epilobium canum ''Epilobium canum'', also known as California fuchsia or Zauschneria, is a species of willowherb in the evening primrose family (Onagraceae).Sierra Nevada Wildflowers, Karen Wiese, 2nd ed., 2013, p99 It is native to dry slopes and in chaparral ...

'', a flowering plant of western North America. The galls are typically 25 millimeters high and about 15 millimeters around. The coloration roughly mimics that of a stereotypical red rosebud, with red on the upper half where the petals would be and green-yellow at the base where the leaflets would be. The type species was collected by Ephraim Felt in the

Puente Hills The Puente Hills are a chain of hills, one of the lower Transverse Ranges, in an unincorporated area in eastern Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, in the United States. The western end of the range is often referred to ...

, near

Whittier, California Whittier () is a city in Los Angeles County, California, and is part of the Gateway Cities. The city had 87,306 residents as of the 2020 United States census, an increase of 1,975 from the 2010 United States census, 2010 census figure. Whittier ...

, in 1910.

References

External links

* Gall-inducing insects Diptera of North America Western North American coastal fauna Insects described in 1912 Taxa named by Ephraim Porter Felt Cecidomyiidae {{Diptera-stub