Biogeography and evolution of gall midges (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) inhabiting broad-leaved evergreen forests in Oriental and eastern Palearctic regions

Abstract

The family Cecidomyiidae (Diptera) includes the largest number of gall-inducing species of any arthropod family. In this chapter, we focus on the taxonomy, life-history strategy, biogeography, and evolution of the gall midges belonging to the tribe Asphondyliini associated with broad-leaved evergreen trees in the eastern Palearctic and Oriental Regions. Asphondyliini is a well-circumscribed monophyletic group and is divided into two subtribes: Asphondyliina and Schizomyiina. In the eastern Palearctic and Oriental Regions, most species of univoltine Schizomyiina adopt a Type lA life-history strategy, in which full-grown larvae leave the galls and overwinter on the ground, whereas Asphondyliina exhibit Type IIA or liB life-history strategies, in which full-grown larvae (Type liA) or first instars (Type liB) overwinter within galls remaining attached to the plants. Phylogenetic analysis based on 14 morphological characters indicates that the Type I strategy is a primitive state and the Type II strategy has evolved from Type I. In addition, phylogenetic analysis supports the possibility that Asphondyliina originated in the Old World and that Asphondylia originated in the Neotropical Region. We review the present knowledge of the taxonomy, distribution, life-history strategy, and host specificity of Asteralobia, Luzonomyia, Oxycephalomyia, and other genera of Schizomyiina and of Daphnephila, Pseudasphondylia, Bruggmanniella, Asphondylia, and other genera of Asphondyliina that are distributed in the eastern Palearctic and Oriental Regions and we discuss the biogeography and evolution of respective genera.