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Photo#485634
Unidentified stem galls in Salix lasiolepis

Unidentified stem galls in Salix lasiolepis
Carpinteria Salt Marsh, Santa Barbara County, California, USA
January 17, 2011
Size: head ~1 mm diam
I returned to the marsh today, located this same gall with the exit hole, and cut it from the tree in order to bring it home and examine its interior. Unfortunately, when I did so I discovered a live larva inside the gall. I feel kind of bad about that; I assume I've essentially killed it, since it will be unlikely to survive with its host gall removed from the tree.

Anyway, here are some images I've taken of it. I also posted a video to YouTube; there is some additional detail visible in that.

This first image shows the view I had after slicing the gall from the stem. You can just make out the head of the larva through the righthand opening.

Grateful, as usual, for any insights into the possible ID. Thanks.

Images of this individual: tag all
Unidentified stem galls in Salix lasiolepis Unidentified stem galls in Salix lasiolepis Unidentified stem galls in Salix lasiolepis Unidentified stem galls in Salix lasiolepis Unidentified stem galls in Salix lasiolepis

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

Looks like a moth larva
You might as well keep it and try feeding it willow leaves and see if it will complete its development. I don't think this is the insect that caused the gall.

 
What about gall restoration?
What do you suppose would happen if I replaced the half-a-gall (with the larva inside it) onto the still-on-the-stem half I left behind? And then secured the pieces together with something (a rubber band, maybe)? If I did that sooner rather than later (we're about 16 hours post-slicing at this point) is there a possibility that the larva could go on with its presumed gall-interior-chewing development?

I think I'll give that a try. Thanks (as usual) for the info.

 
Worth a shot.
And the larva may be able to migrate into another gall if that doesn't quite work out.

 
Yeah
That was my thinking. I stuck the severed gall portion back on top of the original site a few hours ago, and wrapped it with a rubber band in an effort to hold the two halves together. I'll check up on it periodically and see what comes of it.

Is it common for galls to be taken over by other insects after the original gall creator is gone? Do you know of any species that specialize in that? I know there are parasitoid wasps that specialize in gall inhabitants, so it would stand to reason that galls have been around long enough for extended communities of associates to evolve. There was an interesting (albeit brief) discussion in Russo's gall book about the communities that inhabit old Gnorimoschema baccharisella galls, for example.

Thanks again. I really appreciate all the time you (and everyone else at Bugguide) are willing to spend educating newbies like myself.

 
Gall communities
There are definitely midges, wasps, and other things that are obligate "guests" (inquilines) in galls made by other insects, in addition to the wasps that parasitize the larvae developing in the galls. And there are definitely insects and other organisms that move into galls after the gallmakers have left, but I don't know how many of these are dependent on galls. Based on a quick look at the host plant database at www.tortricidae.com, there do seem to be some tortricid moths that have only been reared from galls of other insects, but without following up on the references given in the database, I don't know at what stage they enter the galls. I noticed that the species Cydia gallaesaliciana was reared from "dipterous galls on Salix sp." -- I wonder what that larva looks like.

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