Note that Cotton Fireweed (Senecio quadridentatus) is a native species and not a weed as the name might imply. The only insect known to cause galls on the flowers of this plant is the fruit fly Sphenella ruficeps, which also affects many other Senecio species. Another fly in the same family, Trupanea glauca, causes flower galls and also stem galls in many of the same Senecio species.
Classification
statistics from Australian Faunal Directory
Order Diptera - Flies, 8955 named species in Australia at Nov. 2021
Family Tephritidae - Fruit Flies, 293 named species in Australia
Genus Sphenella
Species Sphenella ruficeps
References
- Edwards, P. B., Adair, R. J., & Holtkamp, R. H.(1996) Seedhead tephritids and their parasitoids-can predictions be made about likely parasitism of tephritids introduced into Australia for biological control of Asteraceae. In Proceedings of the IX International Symposium on Biological Control of Weeds (pp. 153-164). Stellenbosch South Africa.