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Index of Subjects Thanks Fred, interesting. Ken Storey years ago gave a very entertaining talk here on cryo-preservation, including an aside on the quest in humans for resurrecting personal life after death. This apparently is or was 'big' in California -- very expensive if the whole body is stored in liquid nitrogen, but this renders it very brittle, certain bits readily snap off ...; or cut-rate, just your head, on the assumption that with future biotechnology, re-creating a replacement body will be child's play relative to restoring the pre-death functions of the brain. Anybody interested further in the life history of Eurosta should follow it up on BugGuide.net. To see images and the associated threads, type in Eurosta solidaginis, or just Eurosta for a couple of other species. Besides just this Tephritid fly, there are wasp parasitoids of the fly larvae in the gall, and even a hyperparasitoid (parasitizes the parasite). Also mordellid beetles make these galls. If you click between images, you find that some of this was revealed to Beatriz Moisset who collected a number of galls from withered goldenrods in March in Pennsylvania a few years ago after these had overwintered, to see what eventually emerged besides Eurosta solidaginis. I noticed a number of galls on goldenrod at Mt Uniacke recently. With a few dozen overwintered galls, it might be neat to try to repeat this here to see what variety emerges, though March is a bit extreme here for gall-snipping. Any takers? Has anyone looked at this locally, even at Science Fair level? Maybe the Storeys know about this as a side effect of the cryo work? Steve (Halifax) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Quoting Fred Schueler <bckcdb@istar.ca>: > On 8/22/2013 1:35 PM, Randy Lauff wrote: >> They are not uncommon here in Antigonish, > > * they're studied by Ken & Janet Storey at Carleton Univeristy - > http://http-server.carleton.ca/~kbstorey/insects.htm > > "LIFE HISTORIES of GOLDENROD GALL INSECTS - Eurosta solidaginis > (Fitch) (Diptera, Tephritidae) is the larva of the goldenrod gall > fly. Eggs are laid in the growing tips of goldenrod plants in the > spring and when they hatch the larvae bore into the center of the > stem and start to eat. Secretions of the larvae mimic plant hormones > and cause the plant to form a ball gall around them and to stock the > inside of the gall with cells that are high in nutrients which the > larvae eat. Third instar larvae reach maximum size by early autumn. > They bore a tunnel out to near the surface of the gall (leaving just > the epithelium layer) and then settle back into the center of the > gall to spend the winter. Downy woodpeckers and chickadees will tap > on galls until they find this tunnel and then dive in the get the > juicy larva which is a high fat winter treat for them. Once settled > in the center of the gall, the larvae respond to autumn cues > (shorter days, cooler temperatures, senescence of the plant) by > preparing for winter. They accumulate 2 cryoprotectants, glycerol > and sorbitol, and increase the supercooling point of their body > fluids by adding ice nucleators that stimulate freezing of the > larvae whenever temperature drops below about -8 to -10°C. The > larvae survive freezing and can endure the conversion of up to about > 65 % of their total body water in the extracellular ice. They endure > multiple freeze/thaw cycles over the winter and can survive to at > least -30°C in southern Canada. In late March and April, the larvae > begin to break down their cryoprotectants and get ready to pupate in > late April. After 2-3 weeks, the adults hatch, walk up the tunnel, > push their way through the surface skin and then set off to start > the cycle again." > > I've written to the Storeys to see what they know about northern > range limits of the species, and if any increase of the range has > been observed with warming temperatures. > > fred. > ------------------------------------------------------------ > Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad > Bishops Mills Natural History Centre - http://pinicola.ca/bmnhc.htm > Mudpuppy Night in Oxford Mills - http://pinicola.ca/mudpup1.htm > Daily Paintings - http://karstaddailypaintings.blogspot.com/ > RR#2 Bishops Mills, Ontario, Canada K0G 1T0 > on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44* 52'N 75* 42'W > (613)258-3107 <bckcdb at istar.ca> http://pinicola.ca/ > ------------------------------------------------------------
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