Krissa Klein, who made the first iNaturalist observation of this species, explained how she identified a potentially galled bud: "The galled buds I found were stunted and bent sideways on their stems rather than growing straight up." It is not yet clear whether this species induces a "gall" in the true sense or just damages the bud by feeding.

Whether it will be possible to ID this gallformer from a bud that does not contain visible midge larvae remains to be determined. Krissa was able to find midge larvae on September 30, 2022 when she found and dissected the bud.