Hawthorn Gall

Moved

… John R. Maxwell, 25 March, 2010 - 12:56am

Hang onto that wasp!

It will certainly require examination by an expert to get it to species, and it seems to be a species that no one has documented. It might be worth contacting Ron Russo about this one.

… Charley Eiseman, 24 March, 2010 - 1:17am

Thanks, Charley. Will do!

Do you happen to know where I can find Ron's contact info?

… Mandy Howe, 24 March, 2010 - 1:23am

Gall wasp

Is it too late to see whether that gall will produce more wasps that might be in better shape? I have had good luck just placing the gall in a ziploc bag or a plastic vial, and waiting sometimes for several weeks for the insects to emerge.

… Peter Bryant, 25 March, 2010 - 9:38am

I admit that I am very unfamilar with galls...

...as well as the insects that emerge from them. But I think everything encased in this particular gall is dead. The gall was very light and dried out, weighing next to nothing. It practically crumbled when I cut it open. All the little "wasps" sure looked dead to me. There were many exit holes visible on the gall before I cut it open... so I wonder-- does that mean that these left over wasps just couldn't make it to freedom through the tough gall membrane and died? I plucked the gall from the Hawthorn just over two weeks ago and whenever I'm not looking at it or photographing it, it's kept in a small jar with a lid. I haven't seen anything at all emerge from it yet, but will continue to keep an eye on it. I sort of destroyed it in the process of dissecting it, so whatever may still be alive shouldn't have a tough time finding the exit! :)

What do you make of the wasps in this image?

They don't move at all when I stare at them, but could they still be alive?

… Mandy Howe, 25 March, 2010 - 3:58pm

my guess

is that they are dead. Since the gall has lichen growing on it, it's probably fairly old (as John Pearson pointed out). I've opened a number of galls, even fresher-looking ones, that have had dead wasps in them and have never known what caused them to die .... Lots of mysteries in the world of galls!

… Joyce Gross, 25 March, 2010 - 4:50pm

I think you're right

I trust your judgment better than mine. Believe it or not, this is the first gall I've ever "dealt" with. You may even remember me asking you about them in a comment a while back... you were the first person to describe them to me! I know, talk about a real neophyte, eh?! Thank you for your insight on this one. And lots of mysteries, indeed!

… Mandy Howe, 25 March, 2010 - 5:58pm

yes I remember

From now on you'll be noticing lots of galls!

I was disappointed to find that hawthorn doesn't seem terribly abundant in immediate environs in CA (so I'm not so likely to find these galls).

… Joyce Gross, 26 March, 2010 - 2:19am