''Burnettweldia plumbella'', also known as the beaked twig gall wasp, is a species of

gall wasp Gall wasps, also incorrectly called gallflies, are hymenopterans of the family Cynipidae in the wasp superfamily Cynipoidea. Their common name comes from the galls they induce on plants for larval development. About 1,300 species of this generall ...

. Previously in the genus '' Disholcaspis'', it was moved into a new genus, ''Burnettweldia'', in 2021. This wasp induces galls on

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

trees, including

blue oak ''Quercus douglasii'', known as blue oak, is a species of oak endemic to (and found only in) California, common in the Coast Ranges and the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. It is California's most drought-tolerant deciduous oak, and is a dominan ...

, leather oak, Muller's oak, and

scrub oak Scrub oak is a common name for several species of small, shrubby oaks. It may refer to: *the Chaparral plant community in California, or to one of the following species. In California *California scrub oak (''Quercus berberidifolia''), a widespr ...

s. The galls are up to 15 mm in diameter and brightly colored, coming in either red with yellow spots or green with yellow spots. Their name comes from the galls' pointed tip. Galls are formed in spring and summer, and adults emerge from them in November and December. The adult wasps are 3–4 mm in length.

References

External links

''Burnettweldia plumbella'' on gallformers

''Burnettweldia plumbella'' on BugGuide

hosted by

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and pr ...

Cynipidae Gall-inducing insects Oak galls {{Apocrita-stub