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Title: A NEW SPECIES OF SCHIZOMYIA (DIPTERA: CECIDOMYIIDAE) ON RUBBER VINE AND OTHER ASCLEPIADACEAE IN MADAGASCAR

Author
item Gagne, Raymond
item MOROHASY, JENNIFER - QUEENSLAND DE.OF LANDS,AU

Submitted to: Journal of Australian Entomological Society
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/28/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Many gall midges (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) are effective and specific weed killers, and some have been introduced to good effect around the world to control immigrant weeds. Rubber vine, Cryptostegia grandiflora, is a plant from Madagascar that was introduced into Australia in the early 1900's and has since become a serious rangeland pest there. Exploration in Madagascar uncovered a species of gall midge new to science that forms leaf and bud galls on the weed in Madagascar. The new species is described and its biology is summarized preparatory to host-testing and possibly introducing the gall midge into Australia to help reclaim valuable rangeland. Successful results of this research will add to international knowledge of and sophistication in biological control of weeds and offer a ready control for the plant if it is ever accidentally introduced into the Americas.

Technical Abstract: A new species of gall midge, Schizomyia cryptostegiae Gagne, that forms leaf and bud galls of Cryptostegia grandiflora in Madagascar is described and its biology is summarized. The gall midge is a candidate for the biological control of C. grandiflora in northern Queensland, Australia.