On Canyon Live Oak. @naturesarchive @merav @chilipossum @megachile @mileszhang Is this a gall or something else?
@jeffdc commented in welcome detail on my observation of a Quercus rubra by a stream in southeastern NY
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/184433021
The small brown galls on the leaves were an incidental finding for which he added an identification
Gall galling a gall. A guess on the "hypergall", but they are in season around here.
Edited to separate species. Associated observation here: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/184733087
on Quercus douglasii, blue oak
One was easily detached when I grabbed the stem. This was the second individual I found on this tree.
In Quercus agrifolia acorn, larvae/adult ~3mm across.
4 entry holes found in acorn cap, 7 larvae found in pericarp by cutting acorn sequentially in halves.
Only one moving slowly, (others not developed enough to move?)
Preserved all larvae in 40% ethanol and refrigerated.
Keeping this observation as a record, but it can't be improved past Proctotrupomorpha since 2 organisms are being depicted, the original gall wasp C. eldoradensis, and a Chalcicoid parasitoid wasp that later consumed them.
Update of 9/2/23 observation of Artichoke gall-like observation found on Quercus agrifolia.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/181449885
Larvae preserved in 40% ethanol and refrigerated.
Larvae measure ~2.5mm in length.
Gall on Scouler's Willow (Salix scouleriana)