Favoritos de calconey

Polythalamous bud galls on a young red oak - always assumed the site was predominantly Q. rubra, but Q. coccinea might be present as well.

In any case, I can't quite place these. The overall shape reminds me of B. caepuliformis, but they're structurally much more like little garlic bulbs; each "clove" contains a cell with a larva inside.

@megachile @jeffdc @calconey

Galls on several different Planera aquatica individuals around the boardwalk here. I believe all were on Planera aquatica, see fruits in the photos at the end. The more I kept looking for them, the more I found, so the galls seemed pretty common at this time. At the time, I grabbed a few leaves with galls on them and stuck them in the fridge. I have now cut them open a few weeks later and photographed the larvae. Larvae is maybe 1mm in length.

This was at the same site as this observation I made of these galls on the same plant:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/152322171

Twisted flower on Quercus turbinella. Subtle, small gall, visible in pic two, causing the flower to twist. The gall appeared to be a swelling at the base of a stamen, incorporating part of the rachis as well. Collected for rearing.

Conical bud gall on Gutierrezia sarothrae. Gall composed of deformed leaves stuck together, and surrounded at the base by a small rosette of leaflets. Superfically similar to galls of Rhopalomyia gutierreziae but I believe this is something different. Collected for rearing.

On Quercus sinuata.

Photos 1 & 2: backlit gall formed on developing leaf bud.

Photos 3 & 4: galls developing on leaf margin and mid-stem.

Photos 5, 6, & 7: Disected developing "fresh" gall and larva made out of little cell-like pieces.

Photos 8 & 9: dry gall/dissected chamber. I think I may have accidentally smashed its inhabitant, I could not find it :( It also may have pupated and flown away. ¯\ (ツ)/¯

I suspect of being Quercus oglethorpensis. Short, branching hairs are apparent on undersides of leaf. Axillary tufts are not present, which rules out Q. imbricaria, in my mind. Habitat is roadside savanna. Historically, I feel that this would have been a wet savanna, due to the presence of associated species like Panicum virgatum, Zephyranthes atamasca, Aletris lutea, Hyptis alata, and Osmunda regalis in lower pockets. On slightly higher rises, composition changes to include Schizahyrium scoparium, Andropogon gerardii, Tephrosia virginiana, Viola pedata, Solidago odora, and Liatris pycnostachya. Unfortunately, this specimen was hit by a county powerline herbicide crew, so not much is left to go on for an identification.

Emerged from collected gall (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/149118192) on the morning of 03/04/2023. Gall collected on 02/18/2023. This wasp is entirely dark black except for yellow legs with contrasting black coxae. Adult is definitely Druon, and a good match morphologically for Druon alexandri. The gall is very similar to galls from which Druon alexandri adults were reared at a locality very near this one.

Cf. Druon alexandri. Light orange woolly gall on Quercus turbinella leaf midrib. Collected for rearing.

Total emergences from this gall:
Druon: 03/04/2023
Synergini and Chalcidoid: 03/10/2023
Another Synergini: 03/31/2023

Adult female gall wasp cut out from Quercus turbinella gall: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/112926154. I collected the gall on April 25th of last year, and decided to open it this morning since it has been nearly a year with no results. Inside I found this dead, unemerged adult, and one larva that at first I thought was dead, in two larval chambers. However, upon returning to get more pics of the adult, much to my suprise I saw the larva still moving around! Could such a big difference in biology/phenology between the adult and larva indicate that the adult is an inquiline and the larva is the actual inducer? The gall, both exterior and interior is in my opinion a very close match for Nichollsiella arizonica, but this adult looks nothing like the figures of N. arizonica adults in the paper where the species was described. I'm really not sure what to make of this, but my guess at this point is that this adult is a Synergini inquiline. I have preserved the adult in alcohol. The pin is where the gall was collected originally.

Absolutely crazy! I noticed a large woolly gall on Quercus turbinella and decided to collect it, and right after I plucked the gall off of the tree I noticed a small insect on it that I immeadiately realized was a gall wasp! The wasp was mid-emergence from the gall and I had the insane luck of collecting the gall as this was happening. The first two photos are in the field, right next to the tree the gall was on. I put the gall and the wasp in a plastic bag I had with me and still have them both at home. The wasp crawled around the bag for a while and it seemed to take about 20 minutes for its wings to dry. A bit after collection I noticed a drop of liquid on it's wing as it was flexing it. I intend to preserve the wasp for ID and to hopefully help in future studies to get the species described.