I found two golf ball sized fuzz balls built around the leaf stems at eye level on a white oak trees. They are oatmeal colored with tiny brown speckles. What kind of insect
would build a nest like this? Should I remove them before they hatch?
Thanks for any info,
Marcia
A harmless one ;)
That's a wool-sower gall. Aren't they sort of pretty? You can just leave them be or take one down and dissect it if you are curious yourself or have kids who might find it interesting. Me, I'm always curious and would take it down and cut it in half to get a look-see. Those little itsie bitsie wasps (that don't bother people at all) control some sort of a species of insect that can do harm to plants. In other words, the insect that will emerge from that gall is a beneficial insect. I forgot what the Callirhytis seminator parasticizes but I'm pretty sure you want to leave those galls be so they can emerge and do their thing. Maybe somebody has had to deal with these before and knows what the little critter eats.
Here's a site I had my kids look at-
http://www.backyardnature.net/galls.htm
Wow! Thank you so much for the information. I will leave them be since
the offspring will help control other critters.
Marcia
There's a member out there named Gerris2 who is an entomolgist. He knows his bugs! I know I got the identification right but when I went on line to find out what this little wasp parasticized, I couldn't find it. Maybe if you contact him provately by d-mail and give him a link to this thread he might know or be able to find out what these little waspies parasticize.
Really glad you didn't get upset learning that itsie bitsy wasps would be the end result of the gall.
Now I'm curious, Equi. I am familiar with the gall, but had never heard that the wasp was in any way beneficial. Please let me know what you find out!
Hey ceejay! It's an itsie bitsy teeny tiny parasitic wasp. That means it parasticizes something. I never tried to contact Joseph because it wasn't my gall. I would have contacted him if it was my gall. The gall of that gall to be growing on her tree instead of one of mine! That thing is cool, it's like having blood shot eyeballs staring at you. I'd love to have one of those so I could pluck one and dissect it for me and the kids. Seriously, I don't know what it parasticizes but I did recall the gal mentioning to leave them be that they were no big deal. There was a seminar I attended and one of those was part of the display and it was such an odd ball thing to me that it stood out. I remembered the common name of it but had to go online to match it up to the scientific name... it was either that or dig through piles of paper and I was too darn lazy to get up and go digging. I save and sort, sort and save, but generally don't have the time to sit down and go through piles of notes on those shelves. My bad. Maybe Goodgoods contacted Gerris2?
Yeah - I've dissected some. Really weird things. Weirdly beautiful. I never knew they existed until last year, when someone brought them in to the office.
But I think they are referred to as parasitic because they parasitize plant tissue, not other insects.
I'm sort of into Integrated Pest Management.
Here's one example of a parasitic wasp-
http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/general/resrpt1997/parasitic_wasps.html
Parasitic wasps are normally our "friends".
I think you misunderstand; I am not explaining myself well... I, too, am into IPM (leaning towards organic, but I haven't fallen into the molasses barrel yet), and I am quite familiar with parasitic wasps - especially those that parasitize other insects. But wasps can also parasitize plants, which then causes galls to form. I don't believe that makes them beneficial, just not destructive (although some people aren't particuary fond of the distorted leaves, etc, that they cause). And you are correct - there isn't much you can do about them anyway. :-)
Oh yes there is a lot we could do with them! We could sing the "Barney" song together in unison while we dissected them to get a real good look see!
Equi - If someone brings one in this year, I will immediately pack it up in a little box and mail it to you!!
I'm a taker! We would love to have one of those eyeball thingies. Let me know how much for postage or what ever if you get one. Thanks so much!
I have to tell you a funny story about little round brownish shriveled galls that came with some seed I ordered. I found them in the Taxodium distichum seed and promptly posted photos because I wanted to know all about whatever they were. Everyone identified them as galls. My girlfriend came over and saw them all spread out on the counter top. She asked what they were and I told her galls of some sort. I thought nothing of her picking one of the galls up to lick it because we gardeners sample things because taste can be a help to identifying some things. We gardeners have a tendency of sniffing things, scratching things, and doing all types of weird things to plant parts and such so no big deal. I think we later learned that they weren't galls at all but rabbit turds that somehow ended up in the bag of seed. I couldn't wait to tell her she had been licking rabbit turds.
I thought parasitic wasps parasitize other insects, especially caterpillars, and then lay their eggs in them to feast on the cat. Maybe there are different kinds, insect parasitic and plant parasitic?
Funny Eq...licking a rabbit turd.....I don't think I would want my friend to tell me that, some things are better left a mystery. heehee
There are actually two types. Parasitic and parasitoid. Parasitoids generally destroy their hosts. Parasitism can be to a plant or another critter.
My girlfriend and I have been friends for a long time. I couldn't wait to tell her but not before I told her husband who started gasping for air before he passed the phone to her.
Thanks Eq!
Haha...my DH would never let me live that down! But, I guess there are worse things than being called a 'rabbit turd licker' LOL
Come visit me for a spell, I'll let you taste test the world!
Fly - Parasitic wasps parasitize all manner of insects in all stages of life. But there are also wasps that lay eggs on plants - usually leaves - which then form galls around the egg in response. As nature intended, the egg hatches and the larva feeds on the inside of the gall until it pupates, exits and starts the whole cycle over again. I've never heard these wasps referred to as parasitic. But maybe others use that term. (There are actually parasitic wasps that lay eggs in these galls that feed on the gall wasp.) The wasps that parasitize insects are actually called parasitoids. Parasites do not intend to kill their host - the host must live for them to live. Parasitoids kill their host. The host is not needed after the insect reaches its adult stage.
Equi - Oops! I once did a taste test on a house plant that was brought in all burnt up on one side - without thinking. I just automatically reached over, took a rubbing and put it in my mouth. Very salty. Then I asked about fertilization, which fortunately was the problem. I have been very careful not do any more taste tests, since it could have been a pesticide. Really stoopid....
Oh! That reminds me. I had a friend that would pick up everything while we were shopping. She couldn't just look. I pointed out some cute little statues and she, of course, picked them up and turned them over and over while we chatted about them. Then I revealed that they were made of manure. Luckily they didn't break when she dropped them! Had a good hoot! Don't worry. She got even, I'm sure.
Oops. You can tell that post sat on the burner for awhile. Sorry.
Thanks, now I see the diff.
I do not do the taste test, I have a bad enough time touching my gloves to my face. Several times a year my lips will swell up like Melanie Griffith, or look like a collagen injection gone terribly wrong. So, thanks anyway for the offer Eq!
That's pretty funny. I leave screens up, walk outside, weed for an hour, come back, type a little more, press send... and find that a lot has gone on since I've been left! Happens all the time and besides which, your explanations were more thorough than mine anyway.
Time to come clean... I taste tested the rabbit turds too but I had already done it before she came over and sampled them so she doesn't know. It was fly_girl who said that some things should be left a mystery, right? I think that needs to be left a mystery between me and Shirley.
Haha, so just between us...did it taste like chicken?
They didn't taste like much of anything. They were all dried out by the time we all sampled them so any hint of what they really were was long gone.
Stupid is as stupid does!
LOL, fly! Everything tastes like chicken, doesn't it?
Your secret is safe with me, Equi! (But only because I don't know who your friend is.) hehe
My girlfriend is not a member of DG! nanner nanner nanner, you can't bust me!
