"Oak Apple Galls" commonly form on oak trees and sometimes on plants in the willow and rose families. They’re actually deformed leaves that have been modified by secretions from the larvae of a tiny, stingless gall wasp species, Amphibolips confluenta. In the spring, a female wasp injects an egg into an oak-leaf bud; after the larva hatches, the gall structure begins to develop, protecting and nurturing the immature wasp until it emerges as an adult in June or July. The gall is green and spongy at first during the insect’s larva and pupa stages; it becomes brown and papery after the adult emerges in summer, and eventually drops off the tree in fall or winter. #oakapplegall #oakapplegallwasp #waspsofinstagram #galls (at Carroll, Maryland)
