| Author | Redfern, M. & Shirley, P. |
| Year | 2011 |
| Title | British Plant Galls |
| ISBN | 978 1 85153 284 1 |
| Series | AIDGAP Keys |
| Type | Book/Report |
| How Complete | Most of the galls known from the British Isles at the time, except Bacteria etc and Nematodes where only representative examples are given. |
| Source | AIDGAP Keys, Second edition, 432pp, Field Studies Council |
| Illustrations | Line drawings accompany the text plus 8 colour plates of not very good printing near the back |
| Review (by Malcolm Storey) | This second edition of this indispensable guide. The new edition covers British galls on all groups of plants. A welcome change is that the separate sections for different taxonomic groups of gall-formers have now been combined into single keys for each host genus. The range of fungal gall causers has been extended to include chytrids and a section on galled algae has been added. Bacteria, phytoplasmas and viruses are still treated separately. The entries are arranged alphabetically by host genus, although the plant family Poaceae is not divided into genera. Algae and Bryophyta are similarly undivided. Galls on Fungi and Lichens have been omitted and will be the subject of a subsequent guide. For each genus/family there is a dichotomous key to the galls affecting that host. Sometimes this is subdivided into several keys depending on the part of the host that is affected. Most of the galls are illustrated with line-drawings, and the standard drawings of the gall-causers are also shown where relevant to identification. The list of abbreviations is on p366. Perfect bound (and if that isn’t an oxymoron…) You aren’t a cecidologist until the pages start falling out! |
| Examine |  with x8 or x10 hand lens ( Stereo Microscope is also useful) |
| Specimen Preparation | Many need to be cut in half and the larvae examined, a few require rearing or microscopy. |
| Identification difficulty | The Verification page on the BPGS website: http://www.british-galls.org.uk/verification.htm maintains a downloadable list of problem species that require verification. |
| Website url | www.british-galls.org.uk/publications.htm |
