Heteroecus sanctaeclarae

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Heteroecus sanctaeclarae
Mushroom Gall Wasp imported from iNaturalist photo 57935715 on 2 November 2023.jpg
San Mateo County, 2019
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Cynipidae
Genus: Heteroecus
Species:
H. sanctaeclarae
Binomial name
Heteroecus sanctaeclarae
(Fullaway, 1911)

Heteroecus sanctaeclarae, also known as the mushroom gall wasp (because it looks like a toadstool cottage in a children's book about woodland creatures), is a species of cynipid wasp that induces galls on huckleberry oaks and canyon live oaks on the Pacific coast of North America. [1] [2]

It has also been called the steeple gall wasp because the tops of the galls look like the onion domes of Eastern Orthodox churches. [3] The larval chamber lies in the bottom section at the seam between the two sections of the gall. [1] According to gallformers.org, the bud galls induced by this wasp come in many colors, including beige, grey, pink, purple, and white. [4]

This species may have first been described in 1911 by David T. Fullaway as Callirhytis sanctae-clarae. [5] [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cynipini</span> Tribe of wasps

Cynipini is a tribe of gall wasps. These insects induce galls in plants of the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. They are known commonly as the oak gall wasps. It is the largest cynipid tribe, with about 936 to 1000 recognized species, most of which are associated with oaks. The tribe is mainly native to the Holarctic.

<i>Feron kingi</i> Species of wasp

Feron kingi, the red cone gall wasp, is a species of gall wasp in the family Cynipidae.

<i>Heteroecus pacificus</i> Species of wasp

Heteroecus pacificus, the beaked spindle gall wasp, is a species of gall wasp in the family Cynipidae. According to Ron Russo's book, Plant Galls of California and the Southwest, the galls appear on canyon live oak and huckleberry oak.

<i>Heteroecus</i> Genus of wasps

Heteroecus is a genus of gall wasps in the family Cynipidae. There are about seven described species in the genus Heteroecus.

<i>Disholcaspis</i> Genus of gall wasps

Disholcaspis is a genus of gall wasps in the family Cynipidae. There are more than 40 species described in the genus Disholcaspis. Some Disholcaspis species induce galls that produce honeydew, a sweet liquid that attracts yellow jackets, ants, and bees. These insects then protect the galls from parasitic wasps.

<i>Cynips douglasii</i> Species of wasp

Cynips douglasii, the spined turbaned gall wasp, is a species of gall wasp in the family Cynipidae. It induces galls in valley oaks, blue oak, and California scrub oak. The leaf galls induced by the parthenogenic, unisexual generation in summer are noted for their spines and can be white, purple, or pink. They can be up to 10 millimetres (0.39 in) wide and 15 millimetres (0.59 in) high. Adult females emerge from these galls in winter. The bisexual generation induces rounder, green bud galls in spring.

<i>Cynips quercusechinus</i> Species of wasp

Cynips quercusechinus, the urchin gall wasp, is a species of gall wasp in the family Cynipidae. It induces galls in the leaves and leaf buds of blue oak and scrub oak. Like other oak gall wasps, it has two generations: a bisexual generation, and a parthenogenic female generation. In spring, the hatching bisexual generation produces hollow green galls in leaf buds. In summer, the unisexual generation induces its galls, which are red or pink and resemble sea urchins, on the undersides of leaves. These galls are about 10 millimetres (0.39 in) in diameter. The galls fall with the leaves in autumn, and the larvae inside of them emerge as adults in the spring and lay their eggs.

<i>Druon ignotum</i> Species of wasp

Druon ignotum is a species of gall wasp in the family Cynipidae.

<i>Druon fullawayi</i> Species of wasp

Druon fullawayi, also known as the yellow wig gall wasp, is a species of gall wasp in the family Cynipidae. It was previously placed in the genus Andricus. William Beutenmüller described the female adult wasps as 1.5-2.25 mm long, black with brown mouth parts and brown legs. The galls of D. fullawayi are tan or yellow, woolly, and measure 5-8 mm in diameter. Each gall holds a single chamber for larvae. They are found in California on oak trees, especially Quercus lobata.

<i>Feron crystallinum</i> Species of wasp

Feron crystallinum, also known as the crystalline gall wasp, is a species of gall-forming wasp in the genus Feron. The galls of its all-female parthenogenic generation are pink and covered in hairs that are white, red, or brown. These galls are often massed together in clumps that can cover the underside of leaves. Individual galls are 12–14 mm high, 7 mm across, and have a single chamber for larvae. This generation emerges in late winter. In the spring, the bisexual generation of males and females induces much smaller galls with shorter hairs. F. crystallinum galls are found in all species of oaks in California.

<i>Feron parmula</i> Species of wasp

Feron parmula, also known as the disc gall wasp, is a species of oak gall wasp in the genus Feron. It induces galls in a wide selection of oak species, especially white oaks, and including hybrids. The galls are disc-shaped, up to 3 mm in diameter, and pale with red streaking. Adult females emerge in April. The galls induced by F. parmula superficially resemble the galls of Feron gigas,Andricus viscidus, and newly identified species called the "plate gall wasp" and the "orange-cap gall wasp" by Ronald Russo. Galls induced by this wasp have been documented in Oregon and California on the Pacific coast of North America.

<i>Feron gigas</i> Species of wasp

Feron gigas, also known as the saucer gall wasp, is a species of gall-forming wasp in the genus Feron. It induces galls on the leaves of scrub oaks, blue oaks, and Engelmann oaks. The galls produced by its all-female generation, which emerges in winter, are 3-4 mm wide, circular with raised edges. They are red, pink, brown, or purple. The larval chamber exists as a raised bump in the gall's center. The bisexual generation produces galls that are brown and cone-shaped.

<i>Feron pattersonae</i> Species of wasp

Feron pattersonae, also known as the plate gall wasp, is a species of oak gall wasp in the genus Feron. Their hosts are among the white oaks grouping of oaks, with blue oak being common.

<i>Feron atrimentum</i> Species of wasp

Feron atrimentum, also known as the striped volcano gall wasp, is a species of gall-forming wasp in the genus Feron. It induces galls on blue oak leaves. Like other oak gall wasps, it has two generations: a bisexual generation, and a parthenogenic female generation. The bisexual generation produces round, 3–4 millimetres (0.12–0.16 in) galls in spring that start as green or pink, and then turn brown. The unisexual generation produces conical, 4–4 millimetres (0.16–0.16 in) galls in summer that are pale with red stripes.

<i>Feron bakkeri</i> North American gall-inducing wasp

Feron bakkeri, also known as the pinched leaf gall wasp, is a relatively uncommon species of gall-inducing hymenopteran. They produce pink leaf galls on Oregon oaks and scrub oaks. The distribution of this wasp is California and Oregon in North America. It was previously placed in the genus Andricus.

<i>Andricus pedicellatus</i> North American gall-inducing wasp

Andricus pedicellatus, the hair stalk gall wasp, is a fairly common species of cynipid wasp that produces long spindly leaf galls on blue oaks on the Pacific coast of North America.

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

Besbicus is a genus of gall-inducing cynipid wasp found in North America. Several species now classed as Besbicus were formerly considered to be a part of the genus Cynips. Besbicus was originally described as a subgenus by Alfred Kinsey in 1929. Circa 2010, one group of entomologists noted that it was "possible that the nearctic genera Antron and Besbicus were erroneously synonymized to Cynips".

<i>Besbicus mirabilis</i> North American gall-inducing wasp

Besbicus mirabilis, formerly Cynips mirabilis, also known as the speckled gall wasp, is a common species of cynipid wasp that produces galls on oak trees in North America. This wasp oviposits on the midrib of the underside of Oregon oak leaves. One to three detachable galls per leaf have been observed. The larval chamber is at the center of the gall, connected to the husk by slender, radiating fibers. The second generation of this wasp induces bud galls. The galls may be parasitized by moth larva or eaten by earwigs or other enterprising arthropods before the larva complete their development. This wasp is present on the Pacific coast of North America from British Columbia to northern California.

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

Diplolepis californica, formerly Rhodites californicus, also known as the leafy bract gall wasp, is a species of cynipid wasp that induces galls on wild roses on the Pacific coast of North America. D. californica induces club-shaped bud galls that naturalist Richard A. Russo describes as "distinguished from all others by the flat, leafy lobes that emanate from the main gall body and look like aborted leaflets". Each gall contains multiple larval chambers. One of host plants of the leafy bract gall wasp is Rosa californica.

<i>Phylloteras cupella</i> North American gall-inducing wasp

Phylloteras cupella, formerly Trigonaspis cupella, also known as the urn gall wasp or the banded urn gall wasp, is a species of cynipid wasp that induces leaf galls on a number of oak species in western North America. Host species include Arizona white, blue, Engelmann, gray, leather, netleaf, scrub, and shrub oaks. In the United States, galls induced by this species of wasp have been documented in California, Arizona, and New Mexico. This wasp is most likely also in Mexico and Canada.

References

  1. 1 2 Russo, Ron (2006) [1979]. Field Guide to Plant Galls of California and Other Western States. California Natural History Guide No. 91 (Rev. ed.). Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press. pp. 178–179. ISBN   978-0-520-24886-1. LCCN   2006009332. OCLC   65207054.
  2. "Heteroecus sanctaeclarae". iNaturalist. Retrieved 2023-11-03.
  3. Bryant, Peter (September 2013). "Inducers, Parasitoids, and Inquilines: Life Inside the Plant Gall" (PDF). Fremontia: Journal of the California Native Plant Society. Vol. 41, no. 3. Sacramento: California Native Plant Society. pp. 14–19.
  4. "Heteroecus sanctae-clarae (agamic)". www.gallformers.org. Retrieved 2023-11-03.
  5. McCracken, Isabel; Egbert, Dorothy (1922). California gall-making Cynipidae with descriptions of new species. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press. p. 39. hdl:2027/mdp.39015068533523 . Retrieved 2023-11-03 via HathiTrust.
  6. Kinsey, Alfred C. (1922). "Studies of some new and described Cynipidae (Hymenoptera)". Bloomington, Ind.: University of Indiana Press. pp. 96–99. hdl:2027/hvd.32044107198277 . Retrieved 2023-11-03 via HathiTrust.