By: Lucas Ji
Have ever imagined a wasp that wouldn’t sting you? Or one that wouldn’t try to hunt you down for your food? Most wasps wouldn’t leave you alone, and usually you would end up with getting bitten or stung.
The strange gall wasp is one of the few wasps that won’t attack you. Living in almost every part of the world, the gall wasp could be right in your front yard. These tiny creatures have a size of just 2-3 millimeters, which means the small fly buzzing around you might not be just a gnat.
Gall wasps have a strange life cycle with just around a one week lifespan. The female wasp starts off by laying an egg. Then once it hatches, which takes about two to three days, larvae are born. The gall wasps also have a pupa stage, which helps them mature into adults. Though this seems normal, there is a part in the life cycle that is unlike other bugs: the female wasps lay their eggs in galls they make that are on plants.
Galls are tissue swellings on plants that are created because of bacterial infections caused by pests. Most gall wasps are a type of insect called gall inquilines, which are insects who dwell in the galls that are created by other insects. They do however have the ability to stimulate the galls, to make them grow faster.
Their diet also relies on the galls. Younger gall wasps eat nutrients found in galls, while matured wasps barely eat since they cannot live as long.
Gall wasps are interesting creatures. They live.
Sources: https://www.thoughtco.com/gall-wasps-family-cynipidae-1968088#:~:text=In%20very%20general%20terms%2C%20the,tissue%20of%20the%20host%20plant.
https://www.britannica.com/animal/gall-wasp
https://animals.mom.com/long-wasp-larvae-hatch-10651.html