Diplolepis rosae

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Diplolepis rosae
Diplolepis rosae 17779.jpg
Naturalized female Diplolepis rosae specimen.
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Diplolepididae
Genus: Diplolepis
Species:
D. rosae
Binomial name
Diplolepis rosae
Synonyms
  • Diplolepips bedeguaris
  • Rhodites rosae
  • Cynips rosae
Mature gall on a dog rose Diplolepis rosae.jpg
Mature gall on a dog rose

Diplolepis rosae is a gall wasp which causes a gall known as the rose bedeguar gall, bedeguar gall wasp, Robin's pincushion, mossy rose gall, or simply moss gall. [1] [2] The gall develops as a chemically induced distortion of an unopened leaf axillary or terminal bud, mostly on field rose ( Rosa arvensis ) or dog rose ( Rosa canina ) shrubs. The female wasp lays up to 60 eggs within each leaf bud using her ovipositor. The grubs develop within the gall, and the wasps emerge in spring; the wasp is parthenogenetic with fewer than one percent being males.

Contents

A similar gall is caused by Diplolepis mayri , but this is much less common.

Names

Being so prominent and interesting in appearance, this gall has more folklore attached to it than most. The term 'Bedeguar, Bedegar or Bedequar' comes from a French word, bédégar, and is ultimately from the Persian, bād-āwar, meaning 'wind-brought'. [3] Robin in Robin's pincushion refers to the woodland sprite of English folklore, Robin Goodfellow. [4]

Description

Insect

The female is about 4 mm (0.16 in) long. Parts of the abdomen and legs are yellow-red, while the rest of the body is black. [5] The male is black and lacks the hypopygium structure which clearly identifies the species in the female. Its legs are bicoloured yellow and has a body length of about 3 mm (0.12 in). [6]

Gall

Fine detail of the branched filaments of the gall Diplolepis rosae 04 ies.jpg
Fine detail of the branched filaments of the gall
A section through a young gall showing the larvae and cells Diplolepis rosae 12 ies.jpg
A section through a young gall showing the larvae and cells
Rose bedeguar showing the emergence and / or possible predation holes of the gall fly 'cells' Moss gall.JPG
Rose bedeguar showing the emergence and / or possible predation holes of the gall fly 'cells'
An early stage in the development of the gall Diplolepis rosae 06 ies.jpg
An early stage in the development of the gall

Some insects create their own microhabitats by forming a plant structure called a gall, made up of plant tissue, but controlled by the insect. A gall acts as both a habitat and food source for the maker of the gall. The interior of a bedeguar gall is formed from the bud, and is composed of edible nutritious and structural tissues. Some galls act as "physiologic sinks", concentrating resources in the gall from the surrounding plant parts. [7] Galls may also provide the insect with some physical protection from predators. [8]

The bedeguar gall is surrounded by a dense mass of sticky branched filaments. This structure gives the appearance of a ball of moss, and its filaments are often brightly colored, being at their best around September; starting off green and then passing through pink and crimson to reddish brown. A large specimen can be up to 10 cm (4 in) in width. The larvae develop and then overwinter as pupae in the now brown and dry-looking structure, emerging in May. [9] The unilarval chambers are set in a woody core which persists after the filaments have worn off. [10]

The bedeguar may also develop on Rosa rubiginosa, R. dumalis, or R. rubrifolia. [1] : 156  [6] [10] : 46 

The gall induced by D. mayri differs in being more sparsely covered in short, unbranched filaments and the galls usually develop on the twigs. [4]

Lifecycle

A week after the egg has been laid, the larva hatches and begins to feed on the leaf bud tissue. This activity stimulates (in a way not yet understood) the development by the host plant of enlarged 'nutritive' cells in the area around the growing larva. These are fed on by the larva and are continually replaced by new cells. Further concentric layers of tissues develop around the core nutritive tissue and come to form the structure known as the bedeguar, complete with the outermost and characteristic fibrous outgrowths that give the gall its alternative name of Robin's pincushion. As the larva feeds and grows within this gall, it probably undergoes five larval instar stages (the growth stages between moults). The final instar stage is reached by late October. The larva ceases feeding. It now passes into the prepupal stage, in which form it overwinters inside the gall. In the following February or March, the prepupa undergoes a final moult and becomes a pupa. Through the thin, transparent skin of the pupa, it is possible to see the fully formed antennae, legs, wings and body segments of the adult wasp. The adults begin to emerge from the old galls, which are still attached to the rose, in May. Emergences may continue through to August.

As stated earlier, the adult wasps which start to emerge from the rose bedeguar will be mostly female, and these females will go on to lay eggs through parthenogenesis. [9] No alternation of generations exists in this species. Males are known, but are very rare. [11] [12] One possible reason for this scarcity is the presence of a bacterium in the genus Wolbachia , which is endosymbiotic in the females' gametes. [13] A female infected with Wolbachia produces only diploid eggs, when in the cells of the ovaries presumably cause the fusion of the pronuclei, which leads to entirely female progeny. When the females were treated with antibiotics, they were then able to produce normal male and female eggs. [6]

Predators, inquilines, parasites, hyperparasites and fungi

A gall in late autumn prior to the emergence of the gall flies Rosa-Diplolepis-gall.jpg
A gall in late autumn prior to the emergence of the gall flies
Closeup of vacated or predated galls cells Robin's pincushion gall.JPG
Closeup of vacated or predated galls cells

Mature galls are sometimes broken open by vertebrate predators to recover the larvae or pupae. The large size of the emergence holes of the individual cells sometimes suggests predation by birds or small mammals has taken place. [14]

The bedeguar is a good example of a complex community of insects. [15] [16] [17] The cynipid wasp Periclistus brandtii is an inquiline that lives harmlessly within the bedeguar gall and like Diplolepis rosae itself, is often parasitised by insects referred to as parasitoids or even by hyperparasitoids in some cases. [18]

The gall-wasp Periclistus brandtii causes no gall itself, but deposits its eggs in the bedeguar tissues on which the larvae feed. In turn, these larvae may be parasitised by a eurytomid wasp, Eurytoma rosae , which works its way from one inquiline's cell to the next. The parasitoid ichneumon Orthopelma mediator lays its eggs directly into larvae of D. rosae, killing them. The wasps Eurytoma rosae and Glyphomerus stigma can attack both the larvae of D. rosae and of the inquiline P. brandtii. These parasitoids may in turn be attacked by hyperparasitoids such as Caenacis inflexa and Pteromalus bedeguaris . The mossy and sticky filaments of the gall are clearly ineffective in preventing the entry of inquilines, predators, parasitoids and hyperparasitoids. [19]

The tissues of the bedeguar gall are frequently attacked by the parasitic fungus Phragmidium subcorticum , more so than the other parts of the host rose plant.

Infestations

Rose bedeguar galls and rose hips in autumn Galle1.jpg
Rose bedeguar galls and rose hips in autumn

The galls occur more commonly on plants under stress, i.e. very dry conditions, waterlogging or hedge cutting, whereas vigorously growing plants are less commonly found to have galls. Whether the vigorous plant suppresses gall formation or is avoided by the wasp in favor of easier targets is unknown. Young and damaged plants tend to produce larger and more numerous galls than old and intact ones. In the latter, many eggs are laid, but the number of galls formed is relatively few.

The relative number of parasitoids decreases with increasing gall volume. [20] And the closer the gall is to the ground, the greater the total number of adults that emerge. Thus, it seems more effective for a female D. rosae to induce larger galls on lower branches of the shrubs to increase the survival probability of the offspring. The distances from margins of shrubs, however, affects neither the parasitoid ratio of galls nor the volume of the galls. [6]

Removing and destroying galls before they dry and the wasps emerge may help to reduce the infestation. While fairly large, and sometimes present in quite large numbers on scrub specimens, they cause no measurable harm.

Medicinal uses

Dried and powdered, the gall was used to treat colic, [6] as a diuretic, and as a remedy against toothache; the ashes mixed with honey and applied to the scalp were thought to prevent baldness. [21] It was also valued as an astringent and for its ability to control fluid loss; placed beneath a pillow, it was thought to induce sleep. [22]

Related Research Articles

<i>Diplolepis</i> (wasp) Genus of wasps

Diplolepis is a genus of approximately fifty species of gall-inducing wasps in the family Diplolepididae. The larvae induce galls on wild roses (Rosa), and rarely on domestic roses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gall wasp</span> Family of wasps

Gall wasps, also traditionally calledgallflies, are hymenopterans of the family Cynipidae in the wasp superfamily Cynipoidea. Their common name comes from the galls they induce on plants for larval development. About 1,300 species of this generally very small creature are known worldwide, with about 360 species of 36 different genera in Europe and some 800 species in North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gall-inducing insect</span> Any insect that can cause the growth of galls within plants

A gall-inducing insect is any insect that can cause the growth of galls within plants. There are several groups of insects that meet this description. They include the gall wasps, scales, gall midges, aphids, psyllids and certain species of leafminer flies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parasitoid wasp</span> Group of wasps

Parasitoid wasps are a large group of hymenopteran superfamilies, with all but the wood wasps (Orussoidea) being in the wasp-waisted Apocrita. As parasitoids, they lay their eggs on or in the bodies of other arthropods, sooner or later causing the death of these hosts. Different species specialise in hosts from different insect orders, most often Lepidoptera, though some select beetles, flies, or bugs; the spider wasps (Pompilidae) exclusively attack spiders.

<i>Andricus quercuscalicis</i> Species of wasp

Andricus quercuscalicis is a gall wasp species inducing knopper galls.

<i>Andricus kollari</i> Species of insect

Andricus kollari, also known as the marble gall wasp, is a parthenogenetic species of wasp which causes the formation of marble galls on oak trees. Synonyms for the species include Cynips kollari, Andricus quercusgemmae, A. minor, A. indigenus and A. circulans.

<i>Andricus foecundatrix</i> Species of wasp

Andricus foecundatrix is a parthenogenetic gall wasp which lays a single egg within a leaf bud, using its ovipositor, to produce a gall known as an oak artichoke gall, oak hop gall, larch-cone gall or hop strobile The gall develops as a chemically induced distortion of leaf axillary or terminal buds on pedunculate oak or sessile oak trees. The larva lives inside a smaller hard casing inside the artichoke and this is released in autumn. The asexual wasp emerges in spring and lays her eggs in the oak catkins. These develop into small oval galls which produce the sexual generation of wasps. A yew artichoke gall caused by the fly Taxomyia taxi also exists, but is unrelated to the oak-borne species. Previous names or synonyms for the species A. fecundator are A. fecundatrix, A. pilosus, A. foecundatrix, A. gemmarum, A. gemmae, A. gemmaequercus, A. gemmaecinaraeformis and A. quercusgemmae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-pea gall</span> Species of wasp

The red-pea gall or red currant gall develops as a chemically induced distortion arising from the underside of the mid-rib of a vein on Quercus species and it is attached by a short stalk or peduncle. The red-wart gall is the sexual phase of the same species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wasp</span> Group of insects

A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. The wasps do not constitute a clade, a complete natural group with a single ancestor, as bees and ants are deeply nested within the wasps, having evolved from wasp ancestors. Wasps that are members of the clade Aculeata can sting their prey.

<i>Rabdophaga rosaria</i> Species of fly

Rabdophaga rosaria is a gall midge which forms Camellia galls or terminal rosette gall on willow species. It was first described by Hermann Loew in 1850.

<i>Neuroterus quercusbaccarum</i> Species of wasp

The common spangle gall on the underside of leaves and the currant gall on the male catkins or occasionally the leaves, develop as chemically induced distortions on pedunculate oak, or sessile oak trees, caused by the cynipid wasp Neuroterus quercusbaccarum which has both agamic and bisexual generations.

<i>Neuroterus anthracinus</i> Species of wasp

Neuroterus anthracinus is a widely distributed gall wasp that forms chemically induced leaf galls on oak trees. N. anthracinus has both sexual and agamic generations and in consequence forms two distinct galls, the oyster gall and April-bud gall.

<i>Chirosia betuleti</i> Species of fly

Chirosia betuleti is a species of fly, which causes knotting gall in ferns. The gall develops in the terminal shoots of ferns, such as broad buckler fern, male fern, lady fern, and ostrich fern.

<i>Biorhiza pallida</i> Species of wasp

Biorhiza pallida is a gall wasp species in the family Cynipidae. This species is a member of the tribe Cynipini: the oak gall wasp tribe. Cynipini is the tribe partially responsible for the formation of galls known as oak apples on oak trees. These are formed after the wasp lays eggs inside the leaf buds and the plant tissues swell as the larvae of the gall wasp develop inside. This wasp has a widespread distribution within Europe.

<i>Andricus quercuscalifornicus</i> Species of wasp

Andricus quercuscalifornicus, or the California gall wasp, is a small wasp species that induces oak apple galls on white oaks, primarily the valley oak but also other species such as Quercus berberidifolia. The California gall wasp is considered an ecosystem engineer, capable of manipulating the growth of galls for their own development. It is found from Washington, Oregon, and California to northern regions of Mexico. Often multiple wasps in different life stages occupy the same gall. The induced galls help establish complex insect communities, promoting the diversification in niche differentiation. Furthermore, the adaptive value of these galls could be attributed their ecological benefits such as nutrition, provision of microenvironment, and enemy avoidance.

<i>Diplolepis mayri</i> Species of wasp

Diplolepis mayri is a gall inducing insect causing galls on wild roses in the Western Palaearctic. Diploleis mayri is less frequent on rose shrubs than D. rosae.

<i>Diplolepis fructuum</i> Species of wasp

Diplolepis fructuum is a hymenopteran gall wasp which causes a galls on wild roses. The species is closely related to D. rosae and D. mayri but it produces its galls in the seeds of wild roses thus damaging its hips. The species is distributed mainly in the Northern regions of the Middle East, the Caucasus region and Northern shores of the Black Sea.

<i>Diplolepis ignota</i> Species of wasp

Diplolepis ignota is a species of gall wasp (Cynipidae). Galls in which the larvae live and feed are formed on the leaves of several species of wild rose (Rosa). Individual galls are single-chambered and spherical, but multiple galls can coalesce into irregularly rounded galls.

Andricus mukaigawae is a species of gall wasp native to southeastern Asia. It creates galls on the buds and leaves of oak trees. The galls are sometimes used by other gall wasps unable to create galls of their own, with both species sharing the gall.

<i>Diplolepis nodulosa</i> North American gall-inducing wasp

Diplolepis nodulosa, also known as the rose-stem gall wasp, is a species of cynipid wasp that induces bud galls on wild roses in North America. This galls induced by this species have a number of inquilines and parasitoids. D. nodulosa is assigned to a clade of Nearctic stem gallers within Diplolepis along with Diplolepis californica, Diplolepis oregonesis, Diplolepis spinosa, and Diplolepis triforma.

References

  1. 1 2 Darlington, Arnold (1975) The Pocket Encyclopaedia of Plant Galls in Colour. Pub. Blandford Press. Poole. ISBN   0-7137-0748-8. P. 133 - 135.
  2. ↑ "A Nature observers Scrapbook". Bugsandweeds.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2010-09-23. Retrieved 2012-02-04.
  3. ↑ "Hymenoptera: Gall Wasps". Theedkins.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-02-04.
  4. 1 2 Darlington, Arnold (1975) The Pocket Encyclopaedia of Plant Galls in Colour. Pub. Blandford Press. Poole. ISBN   0-7137-0748-8. P. 135.
  5. ↑ "Village Garden Web". Forums.gardenweb.com. Retrieved 2012-02-04.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "Bedeguar Gall". Hedgerowmobile.com. Retrieved 2012-02-04.
  7. ↑ Larson, K. C.; Whitham, T. G. (1991). "Manipulation of food resources by a gall-forming aphid: the physiology of sink-source interactions". Oecologia . 88 (1): 15–21. Bibcode:1991Oecol..88...15L. doi:10.1007/bf00328398. PMID   28312726. S2CID   25722868.
  8. ↑ Weis, A. E.; Kapelinski, A. (1994). "Variable selection on Eurosta's gall size. II. A path analysis of the ecological factors behind selection". Evolution. 48 (3): 734–745. doi:10.2307/2410482. JSTOR   2410482. PMID   28568264.
  9. 1 2 Darlington, Arnold (1975) The Pocket Encyclopaedia of Plant Galls in Colour. Pub. Blandford Press. Poole. ISBN   0-7137-0748-8. P. 133.
  10. 1 2 Stubbs, F. B. Edit. (1986) Provisional Keys to British Plant Galls. Pub. Brit Plant Gall Soc. ISBN   0-9511582-0-1. P. 56.
  11. ↑ Rizzo, Maria Concetta; Massa, Bruno (2006). "Parasitism and sex ratio of the bedeguar gall wasp Diplolepis rosae (L.)(Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) in Sicily (Italy)" (PDF). Journal of Hymenoptera Research. 15 (2): 277–285.
  12. ↑ László, Zoltán; Tóthmérész, Béla (2011). "Parasitism, phenology and sex ratio in galls of Diplolepis rosae" (PDF). Entomologica Romanica. 16: 33–38.
  13. ↑ Schilthuizen, Menno; Stouthamer, Richard (1998). "Distribution of Wolbachia among the guild associated with the parthenogenetic gall wasp Diplolepis rosae". Heredity. 81 (3): 270–274. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2540.1998.00385.x . S2CID   21062862.
  14. ↑ László, Zoltán; Sólyom, Katalin; Prázsmári, Hunor; Barta, Zoltán; Tóthmérész, Béla (2014). "Predation on rose galls: parasitoids and predators determine gall size through directional selection". PLOS ONE. 9 (6): e99806. Bibcode:2014PLoSO...999806L. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0099806 . PMC   4053394 . PMID   24918448.
  15. ↑ Randolph, Simon (2005). The natural history of the Rose Bedeguar gall and its insect community. British Plant Gall Society. ISBN   978-0951158227.
  16. ↑ László, Zoltán; Rákosy, László; Tóthmérész, Béla (2018). "The simpler the better: when decreasing landscape complexity increases community stability". Ecological Indicators. 84 (1): 828–836. Bibcode:2018EcInd..84..828L. doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2017.09.054.
  17. ↑ Sudhaus, Walter (2018). "The bedeguar gall community: producer, inquilines, predators, parasitoids, hyperparasitoids and successori [in German]". Sitzungsberichte der Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin. Neue Folge. 53: 59–82. doi:10.25671/GNF_Sber_NF_53_04 (inactive 2024-09-13).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of September 2024 (link)
  18. ↑ László, Zoltán; Tóthmérész, Béla (2006). "Inquiline effects on a multilocular gall community" (PDF). Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 52 (4): 373–383.
  19. ↑ Darlington, Arnold (1975) The Pocket Encyclopaedia of Plant Galls in Colour. Pub. Blandford Press. Poole. ISBN   0-7137-0748-8. P. 134 - 135.
  20. ↑ László, Zoltán; Tóthmérész, Béla (2013). "The Enemy Hypothesis: correlates of gall morphology with parasitoid attack rates in two closely related rose cynipid galls". Bulletin of Entomological Research. 103 (3): 326–335. doi:10.1017/S0007485312000764. PMID   23217451. S2CID   27671718.
  21. ↑ Pereira, Jonathan (1842). Pereira, Jonathan. The Elements of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, pp. 1556–7 . Retrieved 2012-02-04.
  22. ↑ "Medicinal Use of Rose Bedeguar" . Retrieved 2012-02-04.
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