Stefaniola Kieffer, 1913

Dorchin, Netta & Freidberg, Amnon, 2008, The Chenopodiaceae-feeding gall midges (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) of the Na’aman salt marsh, Israel, Zootaxa 1937, pp. 1-22 : 18

Genus Stefaniola Kieffer, 1913

Stefaniola is the largest genus of Lasiopterini , with 108 described species ( Gagné 2004) and many undescribed species, all of which develop in plants of the Chenopodiaceae in Central Asia and the Mediterranean basin. The usually small and stout adults superficially resemble those of the related genus Careopalpis , from which they differ in the morphology of the ovipositor. The shape of the ovipositor in Stefaniola is highly diverse, but the aculeus is always curved dorsally rather than ventrally, often conspicuously long, and the apical lamella is variously shaped, sometimes with additional protruding lobes. The shape of the lateral plate and its setae are likewise diverse among species. Apical antennal flagellomeres are sometimes fused, and number of flagellomeres may vary within the same species and individual. Palpus is one-segmented. Larvae lack a spatula. Many species are known only from their galls and larvae ( Möhn 1971).