# Ampelomyia viticola

**Ampelomyia viticola**, the grape tube gallmaker, is a species of gall midge (family [Cecidomyiidae](https://www.edgepedia.org/cecidomyiidae)) that induces narrow, tube-like galls on the leaves of grapevines (*Vitis*) in eastern North America.<sup>[1](https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/184726)</sup> It was originally described as *Cecidomyia viticola* by the entomologist Carl Robert Osten Sacken in 1862 and has been shuffled among several genera before receiving its current placement.<sup>[2](https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/80420580/Gagne_Jaschhof_2021_World_Cat_5th_Ed.pdf)</sup>

| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Scientific name | *Ampelomyia viticola* (Osten Sacken, 1862); originally *Cecidomyia viticola*<sup>[2](https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/80420580/Gagne_Jaschhof_2021_World_Cat_5th_Ed.pdf)</sup> |
| Common name | Grape Tube Gallmaker<sup>[1](https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/184726)</sup> |
| Classification | Diptera: Cecidomyiidae, Cecidomyiinae, Cecidomyiidi, Asphondyliini (Schizomyiina)<sup>[1](https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/184726)</sup> |
| Host and gall | Leaf galls on *Vitis*; recorded forming spinelike, dehiscent galls on *Vitis labrusca*<sup>[3](https://notveryfar.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/nantuckets-neglected-herbivores-ii-diptera.pdf)</sup> |
| Genus size | *Ampelomyia* contains 4 species, all forming complex leaf galls on *Vitis*<sup>[2](https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/80420580/Gagne_Jaschhof_2021_World_Cat_5th_Ed.pdf)</sup> |

## Description and gall

The species belongs to the gall midges, a large family of small flies whose larvae induce characteristic plant swellings. *Ampelomyia viticola* produces conical, tube-like galls on grape leaves, the feature that gives both the common name and the species epithet, which is Latin for "living in grape."<sup>[1](https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/184726)</sup> A survey of [Nantucket](https://www.edgepedia.org/nantucket) dipteran herbivores records the galls as spinelike and dehiscent (splitting open at maturity) on *[Vitis labrusca](https://www.edgepedia.org/vitis-labrusca)*, with a historical 1930 record describing "conical tube-like galls on leaves."<sup>[3](https://notveryfar.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/nantuckets-neglected-herbivores-ii-diptera.pdf)</sup> The galls are generally considered harmless to the vine.<sup>[1](https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/184726)</sup>

## Taxonomic history

Osten Sacken described the species as *Cecidomyia viticola* in 1862, with the type material from Washington, DC, now lost.<sup>[2](https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/80420580/Gagne_Jaschhof_2021_World_Cat_5th_Ed.pdf)</sup> Later names applied to the same insect include *Cecidomyia vitislituus* Osten Sacken, 1878, *Cecidomyia lituus* Felt, 1911 (an error for *vitislituus*), and *Schizomyia viticola* (Osten Sacken).<sup>[1](https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/184726)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/80420580/Gagne_Jaschhof_2021_World_Cat_5th_Ed.pdf)</sup>

**A new genus.** In 2019, Ayman Khamis Elsayed, Nami Uechi, Junichi Yukawa, and Makoto Tokuda studied a Japanese gall midge that had been identified by gall shape as the Nearctic *Schizomyia viticola*. Morphological and molecular work showed the Japanese insect was a distinct species belonging to no known genus, so they erected the genus *Ampelomyia* for it (*A. conicocoricis*) and simultaneously moved three Nearctic *Vitis*-associated species into it: *A. viticola*, *A. vitiscoryloides* (Packard), and *A. vitispomum* (Osten Sacken).<sup>[4](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/canadian-entomologist/article/abs/ampelomyia-a-new-genus-of-schizomyiina-diptera-cecidomyiidae-associated-with-vitis-vitaceae-in-the-palaearctic-and-nearctic-regions-with-description-of-a-new-species-from-japan/BD605268639E230AA1BE7435136CAFA5)</sup> The genus is defined by features including a ventroapical extension on the first tarsomere, a posterodorsal lobe on larval abdominal segment VIII, and a dorsally shifted pair of larval pleural papillae.<sup>[4](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/canadian-entomologist/article/abs/ampelomyia-a-new-genus-of-schizomyiina-diptera-cecidomyiidae-associated-with-vitis-vitaceae-in-the-palaearctic-and-nearctic-regions-with-description-of-a-new-species-from-japan/BD605268639E230AA1BE7435136CAFA5)</sup> The world catalog of Cecidomyiidae lists the genus as containing 4 species in the Oriental, Nearctic, and Neotropical regions, all forming complex leaf galls on *Vitis*.<sup>[2](https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/80420580/Gagne_Jaschhof_2021_World_Cat_5th_Ed.pdf)</sup>

A nineteenth-century report of the species from Japan (Shinji, 1944, as *Dasineura vitis*) is treated as probably in error, since it rested only on the similarity of the galls.<sup>[2](https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/80420580/Gagne_Jaschhof_2021_World_Cat_5th_Ed.pdf)</sup>

## Distribution and records

State and regional inventories record it from Iowa, Maryland, New York, and elsewhere in the East; the Insects of Iowa project holds six observations from 2019 to 2025, made between mid-June and early September.<sup>[5](https://www.insectsofiowa.org/taxon/ampelomyia_viticola)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[6](https://www.marylandbiodiversity.com/checklist/?family=Cecidomyiidae)</sup> On Nantucket, Massachusetts, galls were observed on *Vitis labrusca* in September 2011.<sup>[3](https://notveryfar.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/nantuckets-neglected-herbivores-ii-diptera.pdf)</sup>

## References

1. [Species Ampelomyia viticola – Grape Tube Gallmaker, BugGuide.Net](https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/184726)
2. [Gagné, R.J. and Jaschhof, M. (2020). A Catalog of the Cecidomyiidae of the World, 5th edition, USDA](https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/80420580/Gagne_Jaschhof_2021_World_Cat_5th_Ed.pdf)
3. [Nantucket's Neglected Herbivores II: Diptera](https://notveryfar.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/nantuckets-neglected-herbivores-ii-diptera.pdf)
4. [Elsayed, A.K., Uechi, N., Yukawa, J., and Tokuda, M. (2019). Ampelomyia, a new genus of Schizomyiina (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) associated with Vitis (Vitaceae) in the Palaearctic and Nearctic regions. The Canadian Entomologist 151(2): 149–162](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/canadian-entomologist/article/abs/ampelomyia-a-new-genus-of-schizomyiina-diptera-cecidomyiidae-associated-with-vitis-vitaceae-in-the-palaearctic-and-nearctic-regions-with-description-of-a-new-species-from-japan/BD605268639E230AA1BE7435136CAFA5)
5. [Grape Tube Gallmaker (Ampelomyia viticola), Insects of Iowa](https://www.insectsofiowa.org/taxon/ampelomyia_viticola)
6. [Cecidomyiidae checklist, Maryland Biodiversity Project](https://www.marylandbiodiversity.com/checklist/?family=Cecidomyiidae)

---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Life and health › Animals › Invertebrates › Arthropods › Insects › Flies › Nematoceran flies › Midges (Chironomidae, Ceratopogonidae, Cecidomyiidae) › Gall midges (Cecidomyiidae)*

*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*

*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*

License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license