Heteroecus sanctaeclarae

Heteroecus sanctaeclarae
San Mateo County, 2019
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Cynipidae
Genus:	Heteroecus
Species:	H. sanctaeclarae
Binomial name
Heteroecus sanctaeclarae (Fullaway, 1911)
Heteroecus sanctaeclarae range, estimated with the iNaturalist Geomodel, 2025

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]}

References

1. 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 university publications. University series : Biological sciences ;vol. III, no. 1. 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). Indiana. University. Studyno.53. Bloomington, Ind.: University of Indiana Press. pp. 96–99. hdl:2027/hvd.32044107198277 . Retrieved 2023-11-03– via HathiTrust.