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Eucalypt scale galls

Tanyscelis sp.

Photo by Mark Ridgway
Published on Project Noah
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Field Notes

Description:

Scale gall tubes (males) on eucalyptus leaves. 3mm tall. Resembling miniature exploded fireworks.

Habitat:

Outer subrban eucalyptus... probably E microcarpa (Grey box)

Notes:

No creatures seen in immediate vicinty. Vacated? <br>
Thanks Penelope Mills for suggestions. <br>
Back to where I started :-) <br>
yet to work through this http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3088339/

Species ID Suggestions

Eucalypt galler (scale insect)

Tanyscelis sp.

Eucalypt galler (scale insect)

Maskellia globosa

Comments (6)

Might be galls of males from the gall-inducing scale insect genus Tanyscelis
Very cool, have been hanging off on photographing galls as well
Thanks again Penelope. Great to learn more about these.
Although these do resemble the male galls of Apiomorpha, the shape of the galls suggest that they could also belong to another genus of gall-inducing scale insect.
I am a recent convert to gall insects and they are very complex I think these are Gall-inducing Scale Insect (Eriococcidae). The dry ones are last years crop. They can be very sexually dimorphic - http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/7837069. That would suggest that these are males and they have left to find girlfriends. Females look like this http://www.flickr.com/photos/66925960@N08/6343855408/in/set-72157627717316074 and remain wingless. You spotted a similar gall (wasp) but these are hamipterans (bugs).

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