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Project Noah Nature School
Andricus kollari
Oak marble galls develop as a chemically induced distortion of leaf buds on oak trees, caused by the parthenogenetic gall wasp which lays eggs within leaf buds using their ovipositor.
Spotted on Dec 19, 2011
Submitted on Dec 19, 2011
4 Comments
From what I see online, this looks like an oak marble gall. I can't tell what species the small sapling they are on is but it is surrounded by oaks so I think it's a good chance it is an oak & that this is the correct ID.
Thanks for all your help Latimeria!
I would assume that with so many of those balls on the twigs, and at such strange angles, they're most likely to be galls. If you search for tree galls online, you might be able to find some pictures that match.
Thanks Latimeria! Unfortunately not as all the leaves are gone. You are probably right though it looked in structure more like a potter wasps nest than a gall but lacked the raised lip at the entrance.
Looks like a gall of some sort, actually. You can see a small hole in some of the structures, which is the exit hole for the gall-forming insect. Do you know what kind of plant it was on?