A tiny wasp female lays an egg on a very tiny developing acorn, that this cozy protective fleshy wall is produced—instead of oak tissue—by the oak tree. The pupa (seen in the lower half here) will eventually emerge, take wing and fly off to lay more eggs in more acorns. And life goes on.
I would love to know what series of almost-but-not-quite transitional stages of evolutionary success or failure gave rise to this phenomenon—capitalized on independently, not just once, but hundreds of times now by wasps, midges and microbes.
Plant galls are something you can explore with good success this time of year.
Here are a couple more plant galls from my image archives. Go see what you can find out there!
Regarding this common weirdness that is one of my favorite galls, I wrote about it some while back.
You started your love for all and anything out doors the day you were born. You would be the apple of your grandad’s eye. You get more like him every day
Very interesting stuff, as always.
You started your love for all and anything out doors the day you were born. You would be the apple of your grandad’s eye. You get more like him every day