What can a tiny wasp with a rather gruesome parasitic life cycle teach us about evolution, behavior and human developmental ...

Galls are abnormal growths and can be caused by a variety of different organisms, including insects and mites, and ...

For more than a hundred years, scientists have studied the strange partnership between ants and seeds. In this relationship, ...

The gall serves to protect the young, developing larva from predators and other species of parasitic wasps. In many cases the gall provides a source of nutritious food for the growing larva.

Galls are outgrowths induced on plants by other organisms. In some instances, they form when parasitic insects like midges, moths and wasps release substances that prompt the plant to produce more ...

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Oak galls are the result of gall wasps. Inside the galls are the insect's eggs and larvae. When the eggs are first laid, the galls will start as a lighter color, either green or yellow.

Adult wasps then emerge from galls. The galls created to house the larvae are known to disrupt water and nutrient flow which can weaken trees and affect productivity.

As a result, the tree starts to grow extra cells, which form a gall, a sort of cocoon for the wasp to grow into. The gall protects the wasp larva as it grows and provides food as well. Though the ...

Gall wasps are a small breed of wasps that lay their eggs in Oak and Pecan trees. Their eggs grow into the tree, leaving a hard capsule around it, which the larvae inside will eventually eat.

A tiny hole in the gall will indicate that the wasp larva has pupated, and the adult has moved out, usually in June or July. Goldenrods also attract many different gall-making insects.

One species inserts its eggs into the galls (abnormal plant growths) on leaves, after which the larvae either feed on the plant material itself, or on the larvae of the insect that formed the gall.