Fig wasps are wasps of the superfamily Chalcidoidea which spend their larval stage inside figs. Most are pollinators but others simply feed off the plant. The non-pollinators belong to several groups within the superfamily Chalcidoidea, while the pollinators are in the family Agaonidae. While pollinating fig wasps are gall-makers, the remaining types either make their own galls or usurp the galls of other fig wasps; reports of their being parasitoids are considered dubious.
Stabilizing selection is a type of natural selection in which the population mean stabilizes on a particular non-extreme trait value. This is thought to be the most common mechanism of action for natural selection because most traits do not appear to change drastically over time. Stabilizing selection commonly uses negative selection to select against extreme values of the character. Stabilizing selection is the opposite of disruptive selection. Instead of favoring individuals with extreme phenotypes, it favors the intermediate variants. Stabilizing selection tends to remove the more severe phenotypes, resulting in the reproductive success of the norm or average phenotypes. This means that most common phenotype in the population is selected for and continues to dominate in future generations.
Wiliwili is a species of tree in the pea family, Fabaceae, that is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. It is the only species of Erythrina that naturally occurs there. It is typically found in Hawaiian tropical dry forests on leeward island slopes up to an elevation of 600 m (2,000 ft).
Gall wasps, also incorrectly called gallflies, 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.
The Tephritidae are one of two fly families referred to as fruit flies, the other family being the Drosophilidae. The family Tephritidae does not include the biological model organisms of the genus Drosophila, which is often called the "common fruit fly". Nearly 5,000 described species of tephritid fruit fly are categorized in almost 500 genera of the Tephritidae. Description, recategorization, and genetic analyses are constantly changing the taxonomy of this family. To distinguish them from the Drosophilidae, the Tephritidae are sometimes called peacock flies, in reference to their elaborate and colorful markings. The name comes from the Greek τεφρος, tephros, meaning "ash grey". They are found in all the biogeographic realms.
Solidago canadensis, known as Canada goldenrod or Canadian goldenrod, is an herbaceous perennial plant of the family Asteraceae. It is native to northeastern and north-central North America and often forms colonies of upright growing plants, with many small yellow flowers in a branching inflorescence held above the foliage. It is an invasive plant in other parts of the continent and several areas worldwide, including Europe and Asia. It is grown as an ornamental in flower gardens.
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.
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.
Diplolepis rosae is a gall wasp which causes a gall known as the rose bedeguar gall, Robin's pincushion, mossy rose gall, or simply moss gall. The gall develops as a chemically induced distortion of an unopened leaf axillary or terminal bud, mostly on field rose or dog rose 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.
Solidago rugosa, commonly called the wrinkleleaf goldenrod or rough-stemmed goldenrod, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to North America, where it is widespread across eastern and central Canada and the eastern and central United States. It is usually found in wet to mesic habitats.
Solidago altissima, the tall goldenrod or late goldenrod, is a North American species of goldenrod in the family Asteraceae which is widespread across much of Canada, the United States, and northern Mexico. It is common in much of its range and fairly tolerant of landscapes which have been disturbed by humans. It has become naturalized in many parts of the world.
Mordellistena unicolor is a species of beetle in the genus Mordellistena of the family Mordellidae. It was described by John Lawrence LeConte in 1862. Larvae feed on gall tissue of the goldenrod gall fly and often consume the fly larvae within the gall as well.
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Eurosta is a genus of gall maker flies in the family Tephritidae. There are seven species in the genus, all in North America.
Dryocosmus kuriphilus is a species of gall wasp known by the common names chestnut gall wasp, Oriental chestnut gall wasp, and Asian chestnut gall wasp. It is native to China and it is known in many other parts of the world, particularly the Northern Hemisphere, as an introduced species and an invasive horticultural pest. It attacks many species of chestnut, including most cultivated varieties. It is considered the world's worst pest of chestnuts.
Quadrastichus erythrinae Kim, 2004, is a small parasitoid wasp belonging to the family Eulophidae, but also a secondary phytophage by way of inducing galls on the leaves, stems, petioles and young shoots of various Erythrina species.
Solidago ulmifolia, commonly known as elmleaf goldenrod, is a North American species of goldenrod in the family Asteraceae. It is found in Canada and the eastern and central United States.
The goldenrod gall fly, also known as the goldenrod ball gallmaker, is a species of fly native to North America. The species is best known for the characteristic galls it forms on several species in the Solidago, or goldenrod, genus. The fly's eggs are inserted near the developing buds of the plant. After hatching, the larvae migrate to an area below the plant's developing buds, where they then induce the plant's tissues to form into the hardened, bulbous chamber referred to as a gall. E. solidaginis’s interactions with its host plant(s) and insect, as well as avian, predators have made it the centerpiece of much ecological and evolutionary biology research, and its tolerance of freezing temperatures has inspired studies into the anti-freeze properties of its biochemistry.
Rhopalomyia solidaginis, the goldenrod bunch gall, is a species of gall midges, insects in the family Cecidomyiidae The galls of this species have the following host species of goldenrods:Solidago altissima, Solidago canadensis, Solidago rugosa They have been found across eastern North American.
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.
