Grape Tube Gallmaker

Naming

In 1862, Carl Robert Osten-Sacken described this species, placing it in the genus ''Cecidomyia''. He based the description on galls on ''Vitis'' and larvae found in the vicinity of Washington, D.C.

The magazine ''The American Entomologist'' had a column where readers could ask for identifications. In 1869 a reader from Piermont, New York, asked the editors about the crimson galls found on a grape leaf. The editors, Benjamin Dann Walsh and Charles Valentine Riley, responded that in unpublished manuscripts of theirs they had given the galls the name ''Vitis lituus'' and noted they were made by a gall gnat in the genus ''Cecidomyia''. This would create a specific name ''Cecidomyia vitis lituus'', which is an unavailable name. In 1911, Ephraim Porter Felt incorrectly referred to this species as "''Cecidomyia lituus'' Walsh", In 1878, Osten-Sacken noted that "the gall ''Vitis-lituus'' Riley" was the same as his ''C. viticola''. In 2019, this species was transferred from ''Schizomyia'' to the new genus ''Ampelomyia''.

The specific epithet ''viticola'' is a Latin noun in apposition; it consists of the word ' "grape vine" and the suffix ' "one who inhabits". The Latin noun ' used in its synonyms refers to a kind of curved staff or curved trumpet.

Distribution

It is found throughout the eastern Nearctic. The type locality is the "environs of Washington [DC]".:190

''A. viticola'' has been documented in the following American states:

⤷  Alabama
⤷  Connecticut
⤷  Indiana
⤷  Iowa
⤷  Missouri
⤷  Nebraska
⤷  New Jersey
⤷  New York
⤷  Ohio
⤷  Pennsylvania
⤷  Virginia

This species has also been documented in Ontario, Canada.

There had been reports of this species being found in Japan, but these are now taken to be misidentifications.

Reproduction

The larva measures about 1 mm long. It is moderately stout, pale yellowish green. Its head is broad, broadly rounded anteriorly, almost subglobose. The antennae are moderately long, stout, and biarticulate; the basal segment is disk-like, while the apical one has a length over twice its diameter. There are conspicuous brownish spots near the latero-posterior angles of the head. Its skin is smooth with distinct segmentation. The breast-bone is weakly chitinized, minute, and reniform. The anterior margin has two small submedian teeth and more laterally there is a pair of smaller teeth. A small scattering of setae occur on the body. Its posterior extremity is bilobed: the ventral portion bears stout, submedian, chitinous, upcurved processes, and each has an indistinct basal tooth anteriorly. The extremities at its posterior extremity are prehensile. The dorsal lobe is broad and obliquely truncate as seen from the side. The face is armed with an irregular series of moderately large, conical, chitinous teeth.

The larvae have also been described as pale orange.

Evolution

In 1862, Carl Robert Osten-Sacken described this species, placing it in the genus ''Cecidomyia''. He based the description on galls on ''Vitis'' and larvae found in the vicinity of Washington, D.C.

The magazine ''The American Entomologist'' had a column where readers could ask for identifications. In 1869 a reader from Piermont, New York, asked the editors about the crimson galls found on a grape leaf. The editors, Benjamin Dann Walsh and Charles Valentine Riley, responded that in unpublished manuscripts of theirs they had given the galls the name ''Vitis lituus'' and noted they were made by a gall gnat in the genus ''Cecidomyia''. This would create a specific name ''Cecidomyia vitis lituus'', which is an unavailable name. In 1911, Ephraim Porter Felt incorrectly referred to this species as "''Cecidomyia lituus'' Walsh", In 1878, Osten-Sacken noted that "the gall ''Vitis-lituus'' Riley" was the same as his ''C. viticola''. In 2019, this species was transferred from ''Schizomyia'' to the new genus ''Ampelomyia''.

The specific epithet ''viticola'' is a Latin noun in apposition; it consists of the word ' "grape vine" and the suffix ' "one who inhabits". The Latin noun ' used in its synonyms refers to a kind of curved staff or curved trumpet.