Jumping oak gall |
The jumping oak gall wasp lays its eggs on oak leaves. This causes the galls to form as a shelter and larder for the wasp's larvae. The galls eventually detach and fall to the ground where the larvae can bounce around a bit. Perhaps this enables them to move to an amenable location for pupation.
I placed my finger in the picture to give you an idea of the size of this little egg-shaped gall.
One second the gall is just sitting there like any other gall...
the next second it's flying through the air like a tiny ball.
I wonder what it feels like when that gall launching larva lands? I can imagine it would be similar to the jouncing we used to get when we rolled down the barn hill in a 55-gallon drum... down the hill, across some bumps in the yard, and into the garden fence...thud !Better yet, imagine crawling into a barrel and launching into the air just by flopping around.
It must take quite a lurch to launch the larva.
Must take a lot of power for that larva to make it jump.
ReplyDeleteSimply amazing surround us. What a marvel this world is !
We found one also, and didn't realize what it was until I saw your post. It sure does jump around alot thanks for the post.
ReplyDeleteWe found one also, and didn't realize what it was until I saw your post. It sure does jump around alot thanks for the post.
ReplyDelete