This must be the largest Oak apple gall I’ve ever seen – it was at least 1½ inches across, and it had attracted the interest of several small wasps, though these are not the wasps that created the gall in the first place.
I assumed that they were parasitic wasps about to use their long ovipositors to inject their own eggs into the gall, and it turns out my assumption was correct. Thanks to the British Plant Galls account on Twitter (@BritGalls), and to another Twitter user’s tweet, I’ve learnt that the tiny wasp in the photo below is a member of the Chalcis genus of wasps, probably one of the family of Torymidae. They are ectoparasites: their larvae feed on the larvae of the Oak apple gall wasp that created the gall in the first place.
Oh, isn’t ‘nature’ gruesome?
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I guess it can be a bit gruesome but, at least, with Nature it’s not conscious cruelty, unlike some humans.
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Ectoparasites eh? Feeding off ghosts…
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Well, that made me laugh out loud, thank you.
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I aim to please! 🙂
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Amazing!
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