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Project Noah Nature School
Diplolepis rosae
Third picture depicts an old one with the scape holes drilled by the larvae. It develops as a chemically induced distortion of an unopened leaf axillary or terminal buds, mostly on field rose (Rosa arvensis) or dog rose (Rosa canina) shrubs. It is caused by the gall wasp (Diplolepis rosae (Linnaeus, 1758). Diplolepis females lay up to 60 eggs within each leaf bud using their ovipositors. Asexual wasp emerge in spring; less than 1% are males. The bedeguar gall is surrounded by a dense mass of sticky branched filaments. This structure gives the appearance of a ball of moss, and its filaments are often brightly coloured, being at their best around September; starting off green and then passing through pink and crimson to reddish-brown. A large specimen can be up to 10 cm in width. The larvae develop and then over winter as pupae in the now brown and dry-looking structure, emerging in May. The unilarval chambers are set in a woody core which persists after the filaments have worn off.
Margins of a pedestrian path by a wawter reservoir, Embalse de Pedrezuela
Spotted on Feb 16, 2013
Submitted on Mar 18, 2013
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