Cherry Gall Wasp

Fascinating facts about the Cherry Gall Wasp

• The cherry gall wasp follows a heterogonic lifecycle, meaning it alternates between generations that reproduce without mates and those that involve both sexes. The asexual first generation of females appears in late autumn or winter and lays eggs in dormant oak buds. A second, sexual generation of males and females then emerges in early summer, usually in June, from the red galls that grew on those buds.
• In central Europe the first generation consists solely of asexual females that emerge in late autumn or winter, beginning the cycle by depositing eggs inside dormant lateral buds of oak trees. These females oviposit within the buds of several oak species, including the gall oak, English oak and sessile oak. By targeting dormant buds the wasp ensures the developing larvae are protected until the spring, when the buds swell and the first red galls appear.
• The wasp's galls form on the underside of oak leaves, most often clustered on the second and third veins nearest the leaf petiole, making them easy to locate. After fertilised eggs are laid in the leaf veins, they develop over summer into large spherical galls that each contain a single chamber. These leaf-borne galls later detach with the foliage in autumn, delivering the next generation of pupae to the ground.
• In early summer the second generation of the cherry gall wasp, which includes both males and females, emerges from the red galls that formed on oak buds in spring. These adults appear usually in June and soon after they emerge they mate. The fertilised females then seek out the undersides of oak leaves and deposit their eggs into the leaf veins. This sets the stage for the summer-time gall development that follows.
• During the summer the fertilised eggs mature inside the leaf tissue, causing the formation of large spherical galls each containing a single chamber. These galls grow on the underside of the leaves, most often on the second and third veins near the petiole. As autumn arrives the leaves fall, taking the galls - and the pupae or mature females inside - to the ground. The fallen galls therefore deliver the next batch of wasps for the upcoming cycle.

Sources

Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.

• Wikipedia

At a glance

About the Cherry Gall Wasp

In the dappled light of ancient woodlands, the cherry gall wasp dances through the air, its iridescent body glimmering like a shard of stained glass as it flits from oak to oak, leaving in its wake a trail of intricate, crimson-hued galls that are the hallmark of its remarkable life cycle. With each delicate touch of its ovipositor, a new generation of wasps is sparked into being, their development woven inextricably into the very fabric of their host tree's being. As the wasps weave their subtle magic, the trees themselves are transformed, their branches etched with the strange, organic sculptures that are the legacy of this tiny, enigmatic creature.

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