An overview of some plant galls of selected trees in India

This paper is an overview of insect plant galls which occur on perennial trees. As galls are becoming economically important in perennial ecosystems of mango, jamun, amla, bael etc, it was felt that a paper of this nature would stimulate further research into gall-forming insects and mites. The paper gives a brief review-on classification of galls with reference to insect galls, with more emphasis on cecidomyiid galls. Among the host plants listed, major gall-attacked crop is mango followed by jamun, fig, apple and pear. In India, the economic damage is high in case of mango caused by gall insects like Procontarinia matteiana, Apsylla cistellata and Erosomyia indica. Some such examples are discussed in the Indian context. The paper emphasizes the need for more research on biosystematics and management of gall forming insects.