Development of stem galls induced by Diplolepis triforma (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) on Rosa acicularis (Rosaceae)
AbstractThe cynipid Diplolepis triforma Shorthouse and Ritchie induces a fusiform, multi chambered stem gall from leaf buds on Rosa acicularis Lindl. in central and western Canada. Galls at all stages of development were fixed and sectioned using botanical histological techniques to illustrate, for the first time, the unique host-modifying abilities of gall-inducing cynipids that distinguish them from other phytophagous insects. Key events in gall ontogeny, whereby D. triforma gains control and redirects the development of attacked host tissues to provide larvae with shelter and food, include proliferation of cytoplasmically dense parenchymatous cells within the strands of the procambium at the point of egg contact, appearance of nutritive cells when larvae first begin to feed, formation of new xylem and phloem extending from un affected vascular bundles to the larval chambers, formation of several layers of nutritive cells during the period of larval feeding, and formation of sclerenchyma cells around each larval chamber. The role of these tissues in galler biology is explained.