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Citrus gall wasp

Bruchophagus fellis

Photo by Mark Ridgway
Published on Project Noah
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-37.9604, 145.01

Field Notes

Description:

Some of the lemons on this tree seem to have been affected by some gall maker, producing weirdly sectioned and folded lemon shapes.

Habitat:

Suburban back yard on very old grafted lemon tree.

Notes:

This tree is also heavily infested with the stem galls (a wasp). Maybe the wasp just made a mistake of location. It is of course possible that there are 2 agents at work here... ??
Adult citrus gall wasps are rarely seen as they less than 3mm in size. "Originally it was limited to Queensland and northern New South Wales and its preferred host was native finger limes. But citrus gall wasp has rapidly adapted to the wider variety of citrus fruits now on offer. Since the 1990’s it has successfully migrated from Queensland, through NSW and can now be found as far south as Melbourne where it is virtually endemic in the iconic back yard lemon tree. " - http://www.sgaonline.org.au/?p=6832

http://bie.ala.org.au/species/Bruchophagus+fellis

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (3)

Thnks ntg. I guess I have to do the science and see what's in it.
That's wild... Thanks for posting it.

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