...pest of daylilies which causes the buds to swell up and drop off before flowering... It can cause severe loss of flowers... The cause is Contarinia quinquenotata, a small fly which has been a pest of daylilies in Europe for several decades and was identified in British Columbia, Canada in the Summer of 2001. Since then it has crossed the border into the state of Washington and has recently been reported by AHS members in north-western Ontario and in Nova Scotia. In 2019 this pest was also reported to be in Maine.

GALL
The flower buds are swollen and distorted and remain closed. Inside many shiny, dirty orange-yellow larvae, that can jump. Univoltine; pupation and hibernation in the ground.

HOST PLANTS
Hemerocallis fulva, lilioasphodelus.

[click below for photos]