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New record of an alien gall midge, Oligotrophus betheli (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) on a North American Juniperus horizontalis (Cupressaceae) in Japan, with reference to its ecological traits and possibility of further dispersal and host range expansion

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Abstract

On the basis of adult morphological features together with the profile of infestation on the host plant, we identify a gall midge that is responsible for the discoloration of young twig tips of Juniperus horizontalis Moench (Cupressaceae) in Japan to be Oligotrophus betheli Felt (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae). Both O. betheli and J. horizontalis are native to North America. This is the sixth example of an alien gall midge on its alien host plant in Japan. Oligotrophus betheli is redescribed to offer some morphological characteristics that were not given previously. Information on the distribution, host range, life history pattern and daily activity of O. betheli is provided and the possibility of its further dispersal and host range expansion is discussed. A larval parasitoid is identified to the generic level and the effect of spiders that catch adult gall midges in their webs is discussed.

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Acknowledgements

We express our thanks to Dr. Raymond J. Gagné (Systematic Entomology Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service, USDA) for his critical reading of an early draft and his kind help in examining the specimens of Oligotrophus kept in the collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington DC, USA. Our thanks are also due to Mr. Etsuho Inoue (Okayama Prefecture, Japan) for collecting galls of O. uetsukii, Dr. Satoshi Kamitani (Kyushu University, Japan) for his technical support in taking SEM photographs, Dr. Makoto Tokuda (Saga University, Japan) for the distributional information on the blueberry gall midge, Dasineura oxycoccana and Mr. Ren Iwaizumi (Yokohama Plant Protection Station, Japan) for the information on the interception of gall midges on Juniperus at Japanese seaports. This study was supported partly by JSPS KAKENHI Grant numbers JP15K07330 to JY through Dr. Nami Uechi (Institute of Fruit Tree and Tea Science, NARO, Japan), to whom we are deeply indebted.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Entomological Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan

    Junichi Yukawa

  2. Sanda, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan

    Hiroyuki Yoshimura

  3. Biosystematics Laboratory, Faculty of Social and Cultural Studies, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan

    Kazunori Matsuo

  4. Institute of Life Science and Natural Resources, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea

    Wanggyu Kim

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  1. Junichi Yukawa
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  2. Hiroyuki Yoshimura
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Correspondence to Junichi Yukawa.

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Yukawa, J., Yoshimura, H., Matsuo, K. et al. New record of an alien gall midge, Oligotrophus betheli (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) on a North American Juniperus horizontalis (Cupressaceae) in Japan, with reference to its ecological traits and possibility of further dispersal and host range expansion. Appl Entomol Zool 52, 417–427 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13355-017-0492-1

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