A new species of midge has recently been identified.
Dr. Boyd Mori, who began his career with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) in Saskatoon in 2016, has been studying swede midge, a common pest that damages Brassicaceae crops like canola, cabbage and broccoli. He says the traps weren’t picking up as many swede midges as expected, but they were picking up something else.
"At this point, we’re not sure if it is a native species or whether it has migrated from other areas, like the swede midge did," he said. "We’re looking into the life cycle, agronomic impacts, and the existence of natural enemies (beneficial insects)."
Not recognizing the insects they were seeing in their traps, they sent them to their colleagues in Ontario for verification. Experts agreed that this insect has never before been described in literature and has therefore been identified as a new species. One theory as to why it was only discovered now is that it might be a native species whose fortunes (and population) have increased with the rise of canola acreage in the past 50 years.
It was decided that the new midge would be called Contarinia brassicola, or the canola flower midge.
The hot spot for the insect is in northeastern Saskatchewan but it has also been found throughout central Alberta all the way down to Red Deer and in Manitoba there was some found around Portage la Prairie.
Source : Steinbachonline