''Amphibolips quercusinanis'', known generally as the larger empty oak apple wasp, is a species of
gall wasp in the family
Cynipidae.
Ecology
Range is central and eastern
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
.
Larvae
A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle.
The ...
induce
galls
Galls (from the Latin , 'oak-apple') or ''cecidia'' (from the Greek , anything gushing out) are a kind of swelling growth on the external tissues of plants, fungi, or animals. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues, similar to be ...
on the leaves of host
red oaks, including
Quercus coccinea and
Quercus rubra
''Quercus rubra'', the northern red oak, is an oak tree in the red oak group (''Quercus'' section ''Lobatae''). It is a native of North America, in the eastern and central United States and southeast and south-central Canada. It has been introdu ...
.
Gall formation occurs on host leaf buds in the spring.
Galls are apple-sized, up to 2" in diameter, with a bumpy, hairless, spotted texture.
Internally, the larva resides in a central chamber with radiating white fibers called nutritive tissue which feed the larva with nutrients supplied by the host. As the gall matures its external color changes from green to brown. After the adult wasp emerges, the gall becomes brittle and "empty" when the nutritive fibers disintegrate.
References
Cynipidae
Insects described in 1862
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