Survivors

Yesterday I posted some pictures of the ichneumon wasp called Orthopelma mediator that parasitises Diplolepis rosae, the gall wasp that causes bedeguar galls on wild roses. Today seven more parasites hatched out, but so did two surviving D. rosae gall wasps, pictured below. Large galls, like the one I collected, can contain up to 60 D. rosae larvae.

These dumpy little wasps, about 4mm. long, have a very distinctive profile with an enlarged red abdomen that's keeled underneath.

Almost all D.rosae individuals are female and reproduce parthenogenetically, producing fertile eggs without fertilisation by males, which are rare. The female inserts her eggs in rose leaf buds just before they begin to open and the plant cells that they are attached to proliferate to produce the spectacular mossy, crimson gall, which contains a nutritive tissue that the larvae feed on.

Below are a couple of pictures of the gall produced by this little wasp