Pineapple gall adelgid

Pineapple gall adelgid
An opened gall, where the Adelgid nymphs are visible
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Suborder: Sternorrhyncha
Family: Adelgidae
Genus: Adelges
Species:
A. abietis
Binomial name
Adelges abietis
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms
  • Adelges gallarum-abietis
  • Chermes abietis
  • Sacciphantes abietis
A pineapple pseudocone gall on a Norway spruce branch.

The pineapple gall adelgid (Adelges abietis) is a species of conifer-feeding insect that forms pineapple-shaped plant galls on its host species, commonly Norway and Sitka spruce. The adelgids (genus Adelges) are pear-shaped, soft-bodied green insects with long antennae, closely related to the aphid.[1] Adelges lays up to one hundred eggs at a time, one on each needle. Adelges abietis (Linnaeus, 1758) is one of the most common species; synonyms are A. gallarum-abietis, Chermes abietis and Sacciphantes abietis.

The pineapple or pseudocone gall[2] is a type of insect-formed gall, or abnormal outgrowth of plant tissue, that develops as a chemically induced distortion of needles, observed mostly on Norway spruce and Sitka spruce.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ohio2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Darlington, Arnold (1975) The Pocket Encyclopaedia of Plant Galls in Colour. Pub. Blandford Press. Poole. ISBN 0-7137-0748-8. P. 114.