Nepticulidae

Ectoedemia

Populus grandidentata

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Guide to Insect Borers in North American Broadleaf Trees and Shrubs

Plant Galls and Gall Makers

Ectoedemia populella

Ectoedemia populella

This subglobular, one-celled gall is found on the petiole at its union with the blade of the leaf. There are distinct longitudinal ridges. Color like that of the petiole. About 5-7 mm. in diameter. The cell-walls are 1-2 mm. thick. Very abundant on American aspen, Populus tremuloides. In October the larvae go down to pupate in the ground. The moth emerges in May.

Insect galls of Springfield, Massachusetts, and vicinity

Ectoedemia populella

Globose ridged petiole gall, diameter .25 inch, caterpillar

Ectoedema [sic] populella 
Aspen petiole gall moth

Hosts: Poplar. Populus grandidentata, tremuloides

Globular to cylindrical, pea-sized galls form on the petioles just below the leaf-blade. Galls are the same color as the petiole and mostly 4 to 7 mm in diameter, but a few reach 10 mm in diameter. Heavily infested trees may have galls on nearly every leaf petiole. Heavy attacks cause early leaf fall in many shelterbelts or on shade and ornamental trees, but the impact generally is light.

Range: North central and northeastern US and from Manitoba to the Maritime Provinces in Canada

Ectoedemia populella
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Hosts: Populus tremuloides

Galls are brown, with furrows or shallow cracks over the surface.

Plant Galls of the Western United States

Frequently, even more often than not, confused with Pemphigus populicaulis, but easily distinguished by its brown-gray color, its split, almost bark-like texture made of dozens of tiny vertical stretch marks, its regular, uncontorted shape, its placement at the base of the leaf, and its lack of an obvious seam. E populella galls also tend to be smaller. 

Pemphigus galls often twist and distort the petiole, vary in their placement along the petiole, have a smooth green-red surface (occasionally flecked with white), and often show a seam, occasionally split enough to see the inside of the gall. Opening the gall will easily confirm either way, as the inside of a Pemphigus gall is full of dozens of tiny white aphids. 

Gallformers ID Notes