A galling aphid furnishes its home with a built-in pipeline to the host food supply

Galling insects modify the developmental pathways of their host plants and create a protected and favourable microhabitat for their offspring. Galling aphids reproduce in their galls and the resulting clones often comprise hundreds of individuals. We followed the histological changes in the host Pistacia palaestina (Anacardiaceae) induced by the galling aphid Geoica wertheimae (Aphidoidea, Pemphigidae: Fordinae). We showed that the leaf tissues are altered in the gall in a way that gives the aphids easy access to the vascular system from which they obtain their nourishment. Specifically, the cuticle that lines the normal leaf epidermal cells is absent on the surface of the inner gall cavity, and the normal palisade cells are replaced by parenchymatous tissue with numerous wide latex ducts. Associated with these ducts, many new sieve tubes (phloem elements) are formed just a few cell layers below the inner gall surface. This arrangement enables the hundreds of aphids to feed simultaneously and continuously in the gall throughout the summer.