 The speckled balls that appear on the underside of some of the Garry Oaks are formed by a tiny wasp called Cynips maculipennis. The wasp lays its eggs on the bud of a Garry oak leaf before the leaves unfurl. The small worm-like larvae are suspended in the center of the gall by radiating fibers where they develop. Their numbers are kept in check by native parasitoids and don't do any major damage to the tree. Apparently there can other species of wasps that will live within the red speckled gall as "guests".
There is a non-native Jumping gall wasp that will cause a lot of damage to Garry oaks but it's galls are tiny and yellow -about the size of mustard seeds. We'll do a post on that species should we be unfortunate enough to find it on Leaning Oaks!
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AuthorsTwo biologists on a beautiful property armed with cameras, smart phones and a marginal knowledge of websites took up the challenge of documenting one species a day on that property. Join along! Posts and photographs by Leah Ramsay and David Fraser (unless otherwise stated); started January 1, 2014. Categories
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