Smooth Pea Gall Wasp

These galls grow on the leaves of the Dog Rose and other wild roses.

Species introduction

At a glance
Latin name: 
Diplolepis sp.
Family: 
Gall Wasps
Family Latin name: 
CYNIPIDAE
Category: 
Insects other

Species description

Species description

The cynipid wasp Diplolepis nervosa or by Diplolepis eglanteriae is responsible for this Smooth Rose Pea Gall. The wasp lays an egg on the leaves of the Dog Rose (and other wild roses) and the larvae cause the formation of these galls. The gall will separate from the leaf before leaf fall in autumn and will lie in the leaf litter. The grub that's inside the gall will emerge as a small adult wasp. They are small wasps, only 4 millimetres long at the most, and one is very unlikely to see them. 

This species - along with mites - are exceptions to the species listed on this website in that we have not seen the species, but we know that the galls that they have created are proof of their earlier presence.

Species photographs

Larger photograph(s) (click to magnify)

Details

Species family information

Gall wasps are wasps that induce galls on plants, which aid the development of their larvae. They are generally small insects. Galls develop in the tissue of plants after the female insect lays eggs. After the eggs hatch into larvae, the galls provide nourishment for them and protection of them.

Category information

Insects evolved in the Ordovician from a crustacean ancestral lineage as terrestrial invertebrates with six legs (the Hexapoda). This was the time when terrestrial plants first appeared. In the Devonian some insects developed wings and flight, the first animals to do so. An early flying group was the Odonata from the Carboniferous, the damselflies and dragonflies, which have densely-veined wings and long, ten-segmented bodies. They are day-flying carnivores, with an aquatic larval stage, so are commonly seen flying near water. The carnivorous larvae are called nymphs. Odonata species are short-lived, damselflies surviving for 2-4 weeks, dragonflies for up to 2 months.

Some insect groups in the Cretaceous co-evolved with the flowering plants, and they have had a close association ever since. These groups are the Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants), the Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), the Diptera (flies), and the Coleoptera (beetles). The diversity of beetles is astonishing. Of all the known animal species on the planet, one in five is a beetle!