Celticecis pubescens (Patton)

Cecidomyiaceltis pubescens
Cecidomyia pubescens
Phytophaga texana New synonym

Hosts: Celtis laevigata, occidentalis, reticulata

Gall.--On underside of leaf, in vein fork, occasionally two adjacent in a fork and then sometimes partly or wholly coalesced, usually perpendicular to leaf; stout cylindrical with short apical tubercle in center of flattened apex and base abruptly tapering to short peduncle; surface green, turning brown, with or without long white pubescence that may sometimes obscure surface; ca. 4 mm long and 3 mm in diameter; apparent on opposite side of leaf as slight, sometimes discolored convexity; walls in cross section thick, yellowish, woody, larval chamber elongate-ovoid, nearly as long as gall.

Affinities.--This species and two others, C. pyriformis and C. wellsi, appear to be related. All three cause upright, columnar, woody, more or less hairy leaf galls that are attached to veins, Celticecis globosa may also be related to these three. The gall of C. globosa is also upright and woody but the larval chamber is ovoid instead of columnar and the larva itself is flatter and more deeply sulcate between segments.

Biological notes. — Young galls of this species bearing second instars were seen in late April and mid-May in Louisiana, but young, soft galls continued to appear through July. Galls with full- grown larvae are commonly found in August but some still contain second instars. Full-grown larvae are yellow to orange and fill the larval chamber. Persistent galls found later than August are generally parasitized; many galls of the current season can be found with a parasitoid's exit hole at the very base of the gall. Adult C. pubescens were reared in spring of 2010 and 2011 from galls collected in summer of 2009 in Temple, Texas.

Distribution (Map 14). — This is a southern U.S. species known from Florida to Arizona and found on sugarberry, netleaf hackberry and northern hackberry.

AZ, AR, FL, LA, TX

Celticecis pubescens New Combination

Cecidomyiaceltis pubescens

Celticecis texana New Combination

Phytophaga pubescens

[No name given, later named Cecidomyiaceltis pubescens by Patton]

32. Cecidomyidous galls on the under side of the leaf, always arising from one of the principal leaf-veins, occurring usually singly, rarely in pairs. In form, sculpture, and pubescence the gall bears a most striking resemblance to that produced by Pachypsylla celtidis-pubescens (see p. 619) but it is much larger, more globular, and at once distinguished by the absence of the cupuliform depression on the upper side of the leaf which is so characteristic of many Pachypsylla galls. A vertical cut through the gall shows a relatively small ovoid cell surrounded by a thick, hard yellowish-white wall. On detaching the gall the base is seen to be truncate and attached to the rib of the leaf by an extremely short conical style which is not visible from the sides. Average height 3.5 mm; diameter at middle, 3.5 mm to 4 mm.

Cecidomyia pubescens

Leaf gall resembling that of Pachypsylla pubescens but with no cup-chaped depression on the upper surface of the leaf, diameter 3.5 to 4 mm.