Bug FAQRed Nail Gall Mite
Eriophyes tiliae · Order: Trombidiformes · Family: Eriophyidae
Also called: Lime Nail Gall Mite, Lime Nail Gall
Red nail gall mites are tiny, under 0.2 mm long, and cause yellow-green or red finger-like galls on lime (linden) leaves.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The galls are yellow-green or red and have an upright, hollow, red finger-like extension.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Each mite is less than 0.2 mm long.
Source: Wikipedia
Is it a pest in the house?
The galls do not affect the health of the trees and there is no known control method.
Source: Wikipedia
How to get rid of it
No effective control or prevention is known for these galls.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
Mites live inside chemically induced galls on the upper surface of lime leaves. They overwinter in bark crevices and buds, then move onto foliage in spring.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Mites feed on sap from the lower leaf epidermis, releasing chemicals that cause the gall.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
In spring the mites leave their winter shelters and colonize new leaf tissue. Before autumn they exit the galls and seek other protected sites on the tree.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Tubular red galls up to 5 mm long develop on leaves during late spring and summer.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
This gall-former is restricted to lime (Tilia) trees.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
Other gall-forming mites look similar, but E. tiliae is specific to lime trees.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 37 of 51 states and DC. Most records: New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Vermont, Ohio, Pennsylvania.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: introduced in North America; introduced in Canada; introduced in United States. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
What do the red nail gall mite galls look like?
They are yellow-green or red, with an upright, hollow, finger-like extension that can grow up to 5 mm long.
Source: Wikipedia
When do the galls appear?
The galls develop in late spring and continue through summer.
Source: Wikipedia
Do these galls harm the tree?
The galls do not affect the health of the host lime tree.
Source: Wikipedia
How can I get rid of red nail gall mites?
There is currently no known method to control or prevent these galls.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Eriophyidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eriophyes_tiliae
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-23.