About Asteromyia carbonifera (Osten Sacken, 1862)
Asteromyia carbonifera is a species of gall midge that belongs to the family Cecidomyiidae. This species forms galls on plants of the genus Solidago. Females of Asteromyia carbonifera can lay as many as 300 eggs in a single clutch, and they frequently carry conidia of the fungus Botryosphaeria dothidea. These fungal conidia are placed on the host plant together with the midge's eggs. The midge larvae develop inside the gall that the fungus forms, an interaction that represents a mutualistic relationship between the midge and the fungus.
