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Resseliella theobaldi (Barnes)
Insecta, Diptera, Cecidomyiidae .

Raspberry cane midge

Description, Biology, Life Cycle, Damage, Common Names, Images

[R]Description
- Adult: 2 to 2.5 mm long, the male is smaller. Red ochre general coloration.
- Whitish eggs inserted in small clusters under bark flakes.
- Larva: 3 to 4 mm long, salmon red in colour (*) .
- Pupa: reddish; in earthen cocoon.
The larvae are visible under the bark of attacked stems.

[R]Biology
- Host plants: raspberry, and occasinally Loganberry.
- Eggs: development lasts 5 to 8 days. They are laid in the longitudinal cracks which form naturally on the surface of the bark of the new year's canes.
- Larvae: they develop only under the bark of the new year's stems, feeding on the periderm; a purplish zone appears around the attacked area. At the end of their development, the healthy larvae leave the canes and bury themselves in the ground to spin cocoons and pupate.
- Development from egg to adult takes an average of 40 to 60 days. Only the parasited or ill larvae remain under the bark.

[R]Life Cycle
- 3 and sometimes 4 generations per year.
- This species overwinters as larvae in small earthen cocoons at the base of the plants. The first adults appear in April-May once the new canes measure 30 to 40 cm, those of the first generation at the end of July and those of the second at the beginning of August.

[R]Damage
- Attack by this little known pest can bring about serious withering, as well as the drying up and death of the fruit-bearing canes in the following year at the time of flowering or of fruit formation (*) (*) .
- Different wound fungi (Fusarium, Verticillium, Coniothyrium, Didymella) colonize attacked bark.
The early removal of attacked canes reduces damage caused by this midge.
- This species is closely related to the bud and graft midge, Resseliella oculiperda (Rübsaamen), which feeds on the periderm of damaged stems (e.g. slit graft, shield graft) of certain Rosaceae.

[R]Remark/A>
At present unknown in Germany and Spain.

[R]Common Names
DE: Himbeerrinden-Gallmücke ES: Cecidómido de la corteza del frambueso FR: Cécidomyie de l'écorce du framboisier IT: Cecidomia della corteccia del lampone PT: Cecidomídeo da casca do framboeseiro GB: Raspberry cane midge

[R] Images

  1. Resseliella theobaldi (Barnes) (Coutin R. / OPIE)
    Larvae under bark of raspberry The bark of a 1-year-old stem was raised to show the larvae.
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  2. Resseliella theobaldi (Barnes) (Coutin R. / OPIE)
    Damage on strawberry 2-year-old stem. Attacks of the preceding year led to the necrosis of underlying tissues.
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  3. Resseliella theobaldi (Barnes) (Coutin R. / OPIE)
    Damage on raspberry Sudden drying of 2-year-old stems in the process of fructification after the attack of the preceding year.
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