''Diplolepis polita'', known generally as the spiny leaf 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 ...

in the family

Cynipidae 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 genera ...

. It was first described by

William Harris Ashmead William Harris Ashmead was an American entomologist born on 19 September 1855 at Philadelphia. He died 17 October 1908 at Washington D.C. After his studies in Philadelphia, Ashmead worked for the publisher J. B. Lippincott & Co. Later, he settle ...

in 1890. This species induces

gall 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 ...

s on several species of wild roses in North America, including

Rosa arkansana ''Rosa arkansana'', the prairie rose or wild prairie rose, is a species of rose native to a large area of central North America, between the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains from Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan south to New Mexico, Texas and ...

and

Rosa acicularis ''Rosa acicularis'' is a flowering plant in the Rosaceae family. It is commonly known as the prickly wild rose, prickly rose, bristly rose, wild rose or Arctic rose. It is a species of wild rose with a Holarctic distribution in northern regions o ...

. The galls are formed on the leaves in spring and early summer and are spherical with short spikes.

References

Cynipidae Gall-inducing insects Insects described in 1890 Taxa named by William Harris Ashmead Hymenoptera of North America {{Wasp-stub