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Animalia >Arthropoda >Insecta >Diptera >Cecidomyiidae >Asphondylia >

The soybean pod gall midge Asphondylia yushimai lay eggs in seeds and flowers of soy beans and damage the seeds as well as plantlets. Little had been known about behavior of this insect during winter, including which plant species they infect. Finally in 2003, relentless work of Dr. Yukawa revealed the midge host during winter. More than twenty years had passed until genetic analyses finally brought the answer to the riddle. When adult midges lay eggs in soy beans they inject symbiotic fungus as well. The fungus proliferates and forms a whitish mat over the bean wall, and larvae grow feeding on the fungus. The ovipositor is thick so as to facilitate fungus injection and oviposition takes a long time. Details of how the fungus is transplanted are still unknown. Many parasitic wasps attack the soybean pod gall midge. The wasps may target the midges with symbiotic fungus in their search for hosts.

(Data No.momo050101ay01b)

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