This is a bit of a weird photo. A few weeks ago I found a goldenrod gall that was half opened. Inside was a grub of the Goldenrod gall fly. I brought the gall home and photographed it, then put it in a box with other galls I had collected. I assumed that the grub in its pupal case, was dead, after being exposed to severe cold outside. However, yesterday, I opened the box and found the grub had left the gall and was transforming into an adult fly. Sadly, there is no way it can survive. Its wings are crumpled for one thing, and it is way too early for these flies to emerge. Adult Goldenrod gall flies, by the way, do not eat. I have heard that the gall interior produces special nutritional tissues on which the larvae feed. The adult fly has only one task, to mate and produce more young. To see an adult fly: http://www.pbase.com/laroseforest/image/115815626

It was quite a shock and made me sad to see this half transformed fly breathing away and pumping its body to get out of the case. I watched it under a microscope for awhile.