Abai, MR

6th International Congress of DipterologyOccurrence of Contarinia sp. (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae)infesting cultivated roses in JapanTokuda, M.(1) & J. Yukawa(2)(1) JSPS Research fellow, Institute for Biological Resources and Functions, NationalInstitute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba 305-8566,Japan(2) Kyushu University, Hakozaki, Fukuoka 812-8581, JapanIn recent years, an unidentified species of Contarinia (Diptera:Cecidomyiidae) inducing leaf-fold galls on cultivated roses has been foundat various localities in Japan. Because similar gall midges have never beenreported from cultivated roses in other countries and from native roses inJapan, whether the Contarinia species is native to Japan or not is uncertainat the moment. In general, galling cecidomyiids are considered to havenarrow host ranges, but recent studies have revealed that some gall midgespecies exhibit polyphagous habit. For example, Contarinia maculipennis,known as a pest of orchids, infests flower buds of other plant speciesacross seven families. In order to identify the Contarinia species infestingcultivated roses in Japan, we compared its morphological features with C.maculipennis and other congeners and analyzed partial sequences ofmitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase subunit I region for theContarinia species collected from cultivated roses in Japan. As a result, theContarinia species was morphologically distinguishable from C.maculipennis, some other pest species of Contarinia, and known nativeJapanese species of Contarinia. By molecular phylogenetic analysis, wedetected several haplotypes in the Contarinia species collected fromcultivated roses, which seem to reflect geographical variations, suggestingthat each haplotype might derive from a native gall midge population in therespective localities. In addition, we examined ecological traits of theContarinia species in the greenhouses and under laboratory conditions.Based on these results, we discuss the taxonomic position and possibleorigins of the Contarinia species infesting cultivated roses in Japan.Key Words: Cecidomyiidae, Contarinia, gall midge, leaf-fold gall, Rosa269