Eucalyptus wasp galls - female
Nambouria xanthops
-37.8977, 145.275
Field Notes
Description:
Small raised pinkish red ridges about 8mm long on both sides of a eucalyptus leaf, looking like small rooster's comb. A side view of the leaf can be seen in pic #3. The base of the outgrowths were broader, thinning towards the tops.
Habitat:
Spotted on a leaf of a young Manna Gum - Eucalyptus viminalis. seen growing by a creek
Notes:
The developing larva can be found feeding inside the gall within an oval gallery. Development takes approximately 3 months, as new generations have been observed in October, and again in January. Up to 25 galls have been counted on a single leaf. Adult specimens reared from the galls were pteromalid wasps. As there are no records in the literature of such an insect on E. nicholii , specimens were viewed by hymenopterists at Landcare Research, CSIRO, and the Natural History Museum in London. It has been confirmed that this is an unknown insect which does not fit well into any described genus. At present it has been provisionally placed in the genus Nambouria which contains one other smaller wasp that induces galls on E. camaldulensis in Queensland. This new insect is found in abundance on foliage of E. nicholii in the Auckland suburbs of Panmure and Mt Wellington. Further searches of these suburbs has found Nambouria sp. on E. cinerea (silver dollar gum).
Source: New Zealand Farm Forestry Association
Here's an interesting spotting from last year of these galls by martinl
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/14223018
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