''Callirhytis serricornis'', formerly ''Andricus serricornis'', the kernel flower gall wasp, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of hymenopteran that produces

galls Galls (from the Latin , 'oak-apple') or ''cecidia'' (from the Greek , anything gushing out) are a kind of swelling growth on the external tissues of plants, fungi, or animals. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues, similar to be ...

on oak trees in California in North America. The wasp

oviposit The ovipositor is a tube-like organ used by some animals, especially insects, for the laying of eggs. In insects, an ovipositor consists of a maximum of three pairs of appendages. The details and morphology of the ovipositor vary, but typical ...

s on

coast live oak ''Quercus agrifolia'', the California live oak, or coast live oak, is a highly variable, often evergreen oak tree, a type of live oak, native to the California Floristic Province. It may be shrubby, depending on age and growing location, but is ...

and

interior live oak ''Quercus wislizeni'', known by the common name interior live oak, is an evergreen oak, highly variable and often shrubby, found in many areas of California in the United States continuing south into northern Baja California in Mexico. It genera ...

and induces a gall shaped roughly like a bottle or vase. The gall is brown in the first generation, and red and green in the second.

References

External links

* Cynipidae Gall-inducing insects Insects of the United States Oak galls Western North American coastal fauna Insects described in 1922 Taxa named by Alfred Kinsey Hymenoptera of North America {{Apocrita-stub