AuthorRedfern, M. & Shirley, P.
Year2011
TitleBritish Plant Galls
ISBN978 1 85153 284 1
SeriesAIDGAP Keys
TypeBook/Report
How CompleteMost of the galls known from the British Isles at the time, except Bacteria etc and Nematodes where only representative examples are given.
SourceAIDGAP Keys, Second edition, 432pp, Field Studies Council
IllustrationsLine drawings accompany the text plus 8 colour plates of not very good printing near the back
Review (by Malcolm Storey)

This second edition of this indispensable guide.

The new edition covers British galls on all groups of plants. A welcome change is that the separate sections for different taxonomic groups of gall-formers have now been combined into single keys for each host genus.

The range of fungal gall causers has been extended to include chytrids and a section on galled algae has been added. Bacteria, phytoplasmas and viruses are still treated separately.

The entries are arranged alphabetically by host genus, although the plant family Poaceae is not divided into genera. Algae and Bryophyta are similarly undivided. Galls on Fungi and Lichens have been omitted and will be the subject of a subsequent guide.

For each genus/family there is a dichotomous key to the galls affecting that host. Sometimes this is subdivided into several keys depending on the part of the host that is affected. Most of the galls are illustrated with line-drawings, and the standard drawings of the gall-causers are also shown where relevant to identification.

The list of abbreviations is on p366.

Perfect bound (and if that isn’t an oxymoron…) You aren’t a cecidologist until the pages start falling out!

Examine with x8 or x10 hand lens ( Stereo Microscope is also useful)
Specimen PreparationMany need to be cut in half and the larvae examined, a few require rearing or microscopy.
Identification difficultyThe Verification page on the BPGS website: http://www.british-galls.org.uk/verification.htm maintains a downloadable list of problem species that require verification.
Website urlwww.british-galls.org.uk/publications.htm
Notes & PurposeStatusTaxonEnglishClassification
For identificationCurrentBIOTAliving things
For identificationCurrentBacteriabacteria, mitochondria, blue-green algae
For identificationCurrentAcarimitesAnimalia
For identificationCurrentDIPTERAtwo-winged fliesAnimalia
For identificationCurrentTEPHRITIDAEgall flies, greater fruit fliesAnimalia: Diptera
For identificationCurrentCECIDOMYIIDAEwood, gall, rust and aphid midgesAnimalia: Diptera
For identificationCurrentHYMENOPTERAants, bees and wasps, sawflies and parasitoid waspsAnimalia
For identificationCurrentLEPIDOPTERAbutterflies and mothsAnimalia
For identificationCurrentHEMIPTERAbugsAnimalia
For identificationCurrentNEMATODAroundworms, eelworms or nematodesAnimalia
For identificationCurrentOOMYCOTAa group of mainly plant-parasitic fungiChromista
For identificationCurrentFUNGItrue fungi
For identificationCurrentVIRUSESviruses
CurrentRHODOPHYTAred seaweedsPlantae
CurrentTRACHEOPHYTAvascular plantsPlantae
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