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Rose Bedeguar Gall
Diplolepis rosae
46.337, 6.10288
Field Notes
Description:
A surprising spotting this last weekend, when we came across these on two shrubs of dog-rose (or field rose; difficult to say which one in winter). At first I had no idea what to think of it, but, in the end, it came out as very easy to identify and find some info about it. So, these are galls, caused by a gall wasp, Diplolepis rosae - they mainly occur on wild roses (dog-rose, field rose etc); and are formed when wasp larvae develop in the bud. Galls look like a hairy balls, the size of a squash ball. These were reddish, and completely soaked through; but they should contain the larvae that emerges in springtime. Those on picture 3, were found on the same tree, and are probably last year's ones - some holes, like exit points, are visible, and there were no hair on them. Galls are called Rose bedeguar gall, Robin's pincushion, mossy rose gall, or simply moss gall.
Habitat:
Found on lowland hilly pastures and shrubland - my favorite place for collecting blueberries, rose hips and sloes. The place are hills in Geneva lake valley, close to slopes of Jura range.
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