#wasp gall

[alcnfr]

Some Detachable Woolly Leaf Galls from a gall wasp (Andricus quercuslanigera)...

[xd33rx]

[hawkpartys]

[honeycomb-butch]

California galls, they’re undeniable, Round plant growths, created by wasps. Quercus[1] represent, now put your wings up. Ooh oh ooh, ooh oh ooh.

You could travel the world, But nothing comes close to the Andricus[2], Once you’re forming a gall, you’ll be falling in love. Ooh oh ooh, ooh oh ooh.

[1] Oak genus that the California gall wasps induce galls in [2] Califonia gall wasps are Andricus quercuscalifornicus

[rebeccathenaturalist]

Okay, so this is really cool! You have this phenomenon where some plants grow edible appendages to their seeds to entice ants to carry them underground where they can safely sprout. And then you have wasps which lay their eggs on the leaves, stems, and other parts of plants and trigger the growth of galls (swellings) which both feed and protect the wasp larvae until they reach maturity.

The boy who was watching the ants noticed they were taking wasp galls underground, too. Further exploration found that the wasp larvae were unharmed inside the galls; the only thing the ants had eaten were edible appendages similar to those on the seeds they collected. The wasp larvae stayed safe inside the ant nest, feeding on their galls, until it was time to emerge and head back out to the surface.

So it turns out that the edible portions of the galls have the same sorts of fatty acids as the edible parts of the seeds. And those fatty acids are also found in dead insects. Scientists think that the wasps evolved a way to make the galls they created mimic the edible portions of the seeds to get the ants to collect the galls. This isn't the only example of wasps making use of ants as caretakers for their young, but it's a really fascinating example thereof--especially if you consider ants evolved from wasps at least 100 million years ago.

[yewstronaut]

are you one of those people that wants to eat that one wasp egg thing? (gall?) well then do I have the food candy for you! Guava candy!

Bottle cap for scale.

I get mine from Woodman's (Midwest? usa grocery "chain") but I imagine they're not that hard to track down as my grocer doesn't carry anything too hard to find.

They have a sweet, fruity flavour that is very much so Guava if you've ever had it. I enjoy them a lot as they're subtler than the average american candy. Also they look like you're eating a wasp egg.

[apsciencebydan]

Parts of the world got to experience the excitement of a solar eclipse this afternoon, and later on I was treated to a tiny partial lunar eclipse. The little green moon, Amphibolips quercusracemaria oak gall, and a tiny hyperparasitoid wasp!

[keeskiwi]

Happy gall week!! Here's a painting I forgot to put online anywhere

[cathartidae]

TOP TEN HYMENOPTERA

AS RANKED BY ME, AN UNQUALIFIED TUMBLR USER WHO LIKES WAUCE

this is for you @hawkpartys

NUMBER 10

AMERICAN WINTER ANT- they have funny asses. thats how i tell em apart compared to all the other ant sp in my area. big ass (src)

NUMBER 9

GENUS EUSANDALUM- this is mostly bc of hazes comment on it. quote "ma'am not to like profile you or anything but this is an oak and you are a small wasp. i think i know what you're here for. (src)

NUMBER 8

EURYTOMA- i cant actually give you a proper image of this one i wanna talk abt since the sp split is still in progress. however they just look ridiculous. girl ur ass (src)

NUMBER 7

SUBFAMILY GONATOPODINAE- why do you look like that. (src)

NUMBER 6

TRIBE THYREODONINI- just look at this thang. what a creature. gongeous (src)

NUMBER 5

BLACK GIANT ICHNEUMONID WASP- i nearly excluded this one bc i was like "ohhh theyre too basic". ichneumonid wasps. basic? bro 90% of people have never heard of the cunts man. anyways 10/10 love these guys. (src)

NUMBER 4

TRIBE PEPSINI (TARANTULA HAWK WASPS AND ALLIES)- i realy couldnt not include these theyre just fuckin gorgeous man (src)

NUMBER 3

CHRYSIS CHROSOSTIGMA- literally gongeous. all jewel wasps are my faves tbh theyre just so pretty (src)

NUMBER 2

VELVET ANTS- oh yeah you have a taxa thats mostly known for their wings? NO fuck you. wasp ant. its like an ant but its actualy a wasp. hell yeah. i wanna see one so bad the horticulture prof at my college says she sees em in the garden sometimes (src)

NUMBER 1

CICADA KILLERS (GENUS SPHECIUS)- i just love em. theyre so ridiculous and really really gorgeous. truly truly the creatures of ever.

HONORARY MENTION

gall wasps. bro you are so fucking ridiculous HWY DO TYOU LOOK LIKE THATTTTT my favourite things is to find oaks and look for the silliest galls on em. i founf one called a yellow wig gall. fucked up (src)

[entomologize]

Mushroom gall wasp larvae make these adorable little houses! Photo by Timothy Boomer.

[razehider]

the lichen gall i posted about a while back is still hanging in there and looking good. here are some close-ups of it that i took recently, so you can see how much it's got going on

a perfect fusion of two of the world's most frustratingly confusing organisms. you can see an exit hole in the last pic, so at least a former occupant (either the original Andricus gall wasp or a hyperparasitoid) made it out, who knows how long ago

[alcnfr]

Couple of Squirrels and some leftover pics for the day...

Acorn Plum Gall Wasp gall... Striped Flea Beetle

[wild-e-eep]

Some beautiful, fresh oak marbles. These are the creations of a gall wasp - Andricus kollari.

[onenicebugperday]

@fluffydogsquad submitted: Flipped over a big stick in my yard and found a bunch of friends. Any idea who the winged friend could be? Also the pal with the long black-and-orange segmented body. Found in New Jersey.

Looks like a gall wasp, I think. Couldn't say which species. The second dude is a rove beetle, maybe Paederus littorarius or similar. The last one is a click beetle, probably a sweet click beetle, Aeolus mellillus. Great group of pals! Always fun to see what's under a rock or stick.

[wanderingokali]

Okalivember day 2: Galls!

The ocular jasani gall wasp makes galls on the stems of an annual plant full of needles, making them hard to reach without getting pricked by the leaves.

The buoy mutabuta gall wasp lays its eggs on the leaves of a small shrub that grows near rivers. The biggest gall that actually touches the leaf has a larvae inside, but the small floating ones are decoys to protect the larva from predators or hyperparasitoids.

The lichen agasur galls have long tendrils that mimic a lichen that often grows alongside them on the branches of the tree whose bark they've been laid in.

The bridge borolsa gall wasp makes its galls on the large leaves of boreal trees. Due to their bright colors, they're sometimes gathered and used as beads or small jewels.

The salt sijaga gall wasp goes for the young, tender branches of a tree that grows in brackish swamps. The salt gathers in the gall formation, protecting them from mold and predators due to being unpalatable.

[pinyonrice]

And then I'll take you to a place called home

Golden-cheeked Warbler (Setophaga chrysoparia)

Elonocnema kinseyi

Leafy Oak Gall Wasp (Andricus quercusfoliatus)

Mealy Oak Gall Wasp (Disholcaspis cinerosa)

Texas Live Oak (Quercus fusiformis)