A new species, Resseliella maxima Gagné, is reported that feeds on the lower stems of soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merr. (Fabaceae) in Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota and Minnesota. It is described and illustrated and compared in detail with other Resseliella spp. DNA data support its status as a new species. A general description is given for Resseliella.

The genus Asteralobia (Diptera, Cecidomyiidae, Asphondyliini, Schizomyiina) was erected by Kovalev (1964) based on the presence of constrictions on the cylindrical male flagellomeres. In the present study, we examine the morphological features of Asteralobia and Schizomyia and found that the male flagellomeres are constricted also in Schizomyiagaliorum, the type species of Schizomyia. Because no further characters clearly separating Asteralobia from Schizomyia were observed, we synonymize Asteralobia under Schizomyia. Molecular phylogenetic analysis strongly supports our taxonomic treatment. We describe five new species of Schizomyia from Japan, S.achyranthesae Elsayed & Tokuda, sp. n., S.diplocyclosae Elsayed & Tokuda, sp. n., S.castanopsisae Elsayed & Tokuda, sp. n., S.usubai Elsayed & Tokuda, sp. n., and S.paederiae Elsayed & Tokuda, sp. n., and redescribe three species, S.galiorum Kieffer, S.patriniae Shinji, and S.asteris Kovalev. A taxonomic key to the Japanese Schizomyia species is provided.

Some herbivorous insects possess the ability to synthesize phytohormones and are considered to use them for manipulating their host plants, but how these insects acquired the ability remains unclear. We investigated endogenous levels of auxin (IAA) and cytokinins (iP and tZ), including their ribosides (iPR and tZR), in various terrestrial arthropod taxa. Surprisingly, IAA was detected in all arthropods analysed. In contrast, tZ and/or tZR was detected only in some taxa. Endogenous levels of IAA were not significantly different among groups with different feeding habits, but gall inducers possessed significantly higher levels of iPR, tZ and tZR. Ancestral state reconstruction of the ability to synthesize tZ and tZR revealed that the trait has only been acquired in taxa containing gall inducers. Our results strongly suggest critical role of the cytokinin synthetic ability in the evolution of gall-inducing habit and IAA has some function in arthropods.

A gall midge that induces conical leaf galls on wild Vitis Linnaeus (Vitaceae) species in Japan was previously identified based on the gall shape as the Nearctic Schizomyia viticola (Osten Sacken) (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae: Cecidomyiinae: Asphondyliini: Schizomyiina). In 2016, leaf galls were newly found on cultivated Vitis coignetiae Pulliat ex Planchon cultivar Suzumi-murasaki and the wild V. coignetiae, Vitis flexuosa Thunberg, and Vitis ficifolia Bunge in northern Japan. Morphological studies of the larvae and adults obtained from the galls revealed that they were an undescribed taxon distinct from the Nearctic species and did not belong to any known genera of Schizomyiina. A new genus, Ampelomyia Elsayed and Tokuda, is erected for Ampelomyia conicocoricis Elsayed and Tokuda new species. The new genus can be distinguished from other genera of Schizomyiina by having ventroapical extension on tarsomere I, the larval abdominal segment VIII with a posterodorsal lobe, and dorsally shifted pair of larval pleural papillae. Molecular phylogenetic analysis supports this taxonomic treatment. In addition, we also place three Vitis-associated Nearctic species in the new genus: Ampelomyia viticola (Osten Sacken) new combination, A. vitiscoryloides (Packard) new combination, and A. vitispomum (Osten Sacken) new combination.