Hey guys! I've been slow on the blogo-sphere, but after missing Dolph's life narrative on Friday, I realized I needed to rejoin the insect party (...a lek?).
Anyway, my housemate awoke me early on Saturday morning and told me to COME OUTSIDE! He was working on a tree planting with URI in the front yard, and wanted my thoughts.
(Urban Resources Initiative does this for free-it's actually pretty awesome. There's a city link here for tree-requesting, and via the URI website. Tell your off-campus tree-lacking friends! Or your home city!)
Whaaaa--? It was early and I had been up late! What could ever convince me to venture into the chilly air? And then my housemate mentioned galls. Something was up with our free tree, and the group needed counseling from their resident EEB251L groupie--ahhh, dear friends, suddenly I was feeling spritely.
[Yes, this is a gall story. As Val likes to tell me, I am a 'woman obsessed.' I fell in love with the idea of parasitic endophagy years ago. It was the first time I pulled a horn worm caterpillar off of a tomato plant and realized that 'lucky' fellow wouldn't be thrown to the chickens; he was already being devoured...from the inside out. I wanted that one to survive to make more wasps! To kill more caterpillars!! To save my tomato plants! Wow! Anyway, the logical next step is galls...I think. Okay, on with the tale.]
The hawthorn tree had a few galls on it, and they were all different. Yay! The URI folks didn't mind a (s)midge (<--get it?) when I asked to take the galls. I assured them that those particular, individual insects would never infest those branches again!
Most websites that mentioned Hawthorn specific endophagous insects bring up Resseliella crataegi, and I know that you'll all be as pleased as me to learn that Resseliella is a genus in the family Cecidomyiidae (source). If you check back to my very first blog post, this is the same family as those small orange larvae that D. Wagner helped me identify inside the leaves at Great Mountain. So those guys are Dipterans.
One really amazing resource I found lists hawthorn galls from 1927, all in the genus Eriophyes--they were discovered in West Sussex! (Check it out: On the Gall Mites of Sussex "The writer is indebted to Mr. W. Fowle for continued assistance in obtaining many of the specimens." Species IDs are in the 1890s and 1910s.). Eriophyidae is a cool family of gall arthropods, because as acari they're arachnids, and because they've got the galls like alien tentacles:
This has gotten quite lengthy, so I'll save you my other Hawthorn-related narrative for next time, and I haven't yet fully identified my specimens. In the meantime, feel free to stop by the front of my house any time and check out our tree--maybe I missed a gall or two; it's not as pin-able as an Orthopteran, but we can all use Cecidomyiidae!
Acromyrmex versicolor lek (via Alex Wild Photography)
Anyway, my housemate awoke me early on Saturday morning and told me to COME OUTSIDE! He was working on a tree planting with URI in the front yard, and wanted my thoughts.
(Urban Resources Initiative does this for free-it's actually pretty awesome. There's a city link here for tree-requesting, and via the URI website. Tell your off-campus tree-lacking friends! Or your home city!)
The group I met on Saturday included an FES student and three cheerful local high school students.
Whaaaa--? It was early and I had been up late! What could ever convince me to venture into the chilly air? And then my housemate mentioned galls. Something was up with our free tree, and the group needed counseling from their resident EEB251L groupie--ahhh, dear friends, suddenly I was feeling spritely.
[Yes, this is a gall story. As Val likes to tell me, I am a 'woman obsessed.' I fell in love with the idea of parasitic endophagy years ago. It was the first time I pulled a horn worm caterpillar off of a tomato plant and realized that 'lucky' fellow wouldn't be thrown to the chickens; he was already being devoured...from the inside out. I wanted that one to survive to make more wasps! To kill more caterpillars!! To save my tomato plants! Wow! Anyway, the logical next step is galls...I think. Okay, on with the tale.]
The hawthorn tree had a few galls on it, and they were all different. Yay! The URI folks didn't mind a (s)midge (<--get it?) when I asked to take the galls. I assured them that those particular, individual insects would never infest those branches again!
Most websites that mentioned Hawthorn specific endophagous insects bring up Resseliella crataegi, and I know that you'll all be as pleased as me to learn that Resseliella is a genus in the family Cecidomyiidae (source). If you check back to my very first blog post, this is the same family as those small orange larvae that D. Wagner helped me identify inside the leaves at Great Mountain. So those guys are Dipterans.
One really amazing resource I found lists hawthorn galls from 1927, all in the genus Eriophyes--they were discovered in West Sussex! (Check it out: On the Gall Mites of Sussex "The writer is indebted to Mr. W. Fowle for continued assistance in obtaining many of the specimens." Species IDs are in the 1890s and 1910s.). Eriophyidae is a cool family of gall arthropods, because as acari they're arachnids, and because they've got the galls like alien tentacles:
(source)
Mr. Fowle's specimens seem to be testament to changing phylogenies and naming conventions that evolve as rapidly as the tiny parasitic munchers themselves. Googling Eriophyes albespine produced a third hit simply titled "Mystery Words." The genus has lasted, however, and it is nice to think that my enthusiasm has been shared for at least a century!This has gotten quite lengthy, so I'll save you my other Hawthorn-related narrative for next time, and I haven't yet fully identified my specimens. In the meantime, feel free to stop by the front of my house any time and check out our tree--maybe I missed a gall or two; it's not as pin-able as an Orthopteran, but we can all use Cecidomyiidae!
Great post! The ants are in their nuptial flight. The aggregation is more a swarm of males and females than a lek.
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