Maple gouty Veingall Midge – Dasineura communis

Maple gouty Veingall Midge (Dasineura communis) Latin Name: Dasineura communis Common Name: Maple gouty Veingall Midge Hosts plants:  Gouty vein midge, sugar and red maples, Bladder gall, silver and red maples, Spindle gall, sugar maple; Erineum, numerous kinds of maple; Bladder gall: silver and red maples. Territory: Maple gouty Veingall Midge is found throughout the range of its hosts. Damage insect caused by Dasineura communis: The maple gouty vein gall midge damages only sugar maple and causes thickened pouches along the major veins. These galls can crumple early maple leaves, giving them the appearance of herbicide damage. The galls are formed by the larvae of Dasineura communis, a tiny gnatlike midge (Felt). Description of Sap Suckers: Sapsuckers are a type of woodpecker that can be found in North America. Sapsucker wells can be easily recognized. The bird drills a dozen or more small holes in a horizontal line, each less than half an inch apart, with its chisel-like beak. Then it comes back to suck up the sap that has seeped out again and again. When the flow begins to diminish, usually after a few days, the bird makes the second row of holes slightly above the first. A rectangular pattern of neatly spaced holes in tree bark identifies a sapsucker at work. The most common sapsucker is the yellow-bellied sapsucker. It lives in the icy evergreen forests of Canada and Alaska. It migrates eastern states east of the Rockies and winters in the Southeastern United States.