Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar

TaxonomyBrowseInfoImagesLinksBooksData
Photo#391358
Some galls for Charley

Some galls for Charley
Hawks Nest State Park, Fayette County, West Virginia, USA
April 27, 2010
Size: 2-3 mm
On red oak. This is the upper side of the leaf.

Images of this individual: tag all
Some galls for Charley Some galls for Charley Some galls for Charley Some galls for Charley

Moved
Moved from ID Request.
It probably got carried along with some other images. Perhaps the most spectacular mistake of that kind was a mixup of many spiders and moths : )
I wish that there were two different ways of tagging images. I am always keeping some that I want to check further and I am always scared of moving them accidentally.

Moved
Moved from Eriophyidae.

 
Why did this one image get moved back to ID Request?
-

Moved
Moved from ID Request. These reminded me of the mite galls on maple, so I just took a sugar maple leaf and looked at the inside of one of the galls under a microscope. It's smooth, just like this one, and it took me some staring before I could see the (I think) mites--they're less than a tenth of a millimeter long. Maybe later I'll put on my more powerful eye pieces--this was 10x. Apparently not all mite galls are fuzzy on the inside, or maybe the fuzz hasn't grown in yet.

Are you sure this was an oak?

 
Thanks
and sorry. I was pretty sure but now I see that I didn't take a longer shot of the branch and can't be sure anymore.
So, there is no chance that I can see the mites, here or in other galls caused by mites, with my very modest equipment.

 
They're pretty small...
Here are some as seen through my dissecting scope, taken with a Nikon Coolpix pressed against the eyepiece--they're the long skinny things:

These were about 1/5 of a millimeter.

Just a guess
Eriophyidae

 
They do look like mite galls...
but my main reference for eriophyid galls doesn't mention anything like this occurring on oak. They're also different from typical eriophyid finger and pouch galls in that they're totally smooth inside, rather than fuzzy (erineum). So... I dunno.

Comment viewing options
Select your preferred way to display the comments and click 'Save settings' to activate your changes.