Gall midge, Procontarinia, mango, Togo

June 2017. Mango farms in Togo are suffering from a disease; could it be identified please.

It is definitely not a disease or even a scale insect; it was identified as a common mango gall midge, Procontarinia mangiferae(= Erosomyia mangifera) (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae). It is known by other common names such as mango gall fly and mango blossom gall midge. Another species Erosomyia indicawas also reported as a minor mango pest from India. It is cosmopolitan in distribution in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and South America and probably part of Australia. It is considered a minor pest of mango in South and Southeast Asia.

For those interested in the taxonomy of gall midges please note that there are many species which use mango and the only species known in Australia is Procontarinia pustulata. Peter Kolesik specialises in gall midges and some of his papers on ResearchGate may be of interest e.g.: Gall midges (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) of mango.