Dasineura Rondani, 1840

Hills-Hayes, Brent, 2017, A new species of gall midge (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) damaging ornamental Callistemon (Myrtaceae) in Australia, Zootaxa 4318 (2), pp. 395-400 : 396

Genus Dasineura Rondani

Dasineura Rondani, 1840: 12 , 17.

Citation list after 1840 in Gagné and Jaschhof (2017). Type species: Tipula sisymbrii Schrank, 1803 (ICZN 1998).

With almost 500 described species Dasineura is the largest genus of Cecidomyiidae ( Gagné & Jaschhof 2017) . It is a broadly defined polyphyletic genus containing species of the supertribe Lasiopteridi with adults having toothed tarsal claws, R4+5 wing vein that meets C proximally to the wing apex, and the female eighth tergite divided into two longitudinal sclerites. Pupae have a small triangular projection on the antennal base, long firm cephalic seta, long prothoracic spiracle and fields of large dorsal spines on the anterior halves of abdominal segments. Larvae are spindle-form, with a bilobed sternal spatula and the terminal segment with six or eight terminal papillae bearing long setae.

The genus is cosmopolitan with most species causing simple swellings of flower buds or plain leaf-rolls, but there are also many that form complex galls. Vast majority of species are strictly stenophagous, with a single or very few closely related host plants. Dasineura contains a large number of pests of cultivated plants from many families, see the world catalogue of Cecidomyiidae ( Gagné & Jaschhof 2017) . Currently 19 species are known from Australia, causing simple to complex galls on flowers and leaves while some are inquilines in galls of other Cecidomyiidae (Kolesik 2014, Kolesik et al. 2014, Kolesik & Gagné 2016).