“Cotton Balls” on Fourwinged Saltbush – Galls formed by Cecidomyid Midges
Photographing Midge-induced cotton-ball galls on Fourwinged Saltbush in Southwestern Colorado.
A Good Life
Miscellaneous Wanderings and Maunderings
A Good Life
Miscellaneous Wanderings and Maunderings
Galls
Rust Gall on Juniper in Southwestern Colorado
I’ve been fascinated by galls lately. Most of the galls I’ve looked at have been induced by insects. This one, though, is caused by a Rust fungus. I’m thinking that it’s one of the Gymnosporangium genus, probably Cedar-Apple Rust, Gymnosporangium…
Galls on Utah Juniper in Southwestern Colorado – Gall Midge (Walshomyia sp A)
I’ve seen these strange flower-like growths on Utah Junipers here in Southwestern Colorado for years, but have not known what they were. I assumed they were galls, but was having a heck of a time figuring out what type of…
Xanthoteras eburneum – Cynipid Wasp galls on Gambel Oak
I was on a hike the other day in a Ponderosa Pine forest in Southwestern Colorado, at about 7000′. There were a number of small Gambel Oak seedlings in the trail, and some of their leaves had a line of…
Rabbitbrush Gall – Cotton-gall Tephritid
Rubber Rabbitbrush (Ericameria nauseosa) is one of the common native shrubs in the high desert of the Four Corners area. And it’s really common to see little fuzzy white balls attached to the Rabbitbrush stems. I was curious about these…
Corky-Bark Fungus (Diplodia tumefaciens) Galls on Quaking Aspen
I recently (June 15, 2021) spent the morning walking along a trail on the Dolores River. The trail took me through a stand of Quaking Aspen Trees. The weather was beautiful, and the trunks of the Aspens seemed to glow…
Sponge-galls on Sagebrush – Rhopalomyia pomum
“You know,” my Wife said one morning, “Since you seem to have this gall-fixation thing going right now, you might want to look at the Sagebrush over by the horse corrals. The Sagebrush are absolutely covered in these strange galls…
Coccid Thorn Gall on Emory Oak – Olliffiella cristicola
In September of 2002, I was walking along a trail in Gardner Canyon, in Arizona’s Santa Rita Mountains. I noticed a 4-5′ high shrub on the side of the trail. It looked like some type of scrub oak, or Emory…
Blaesodiplosis Galls on Serviceberry (Amelanchier)
When I was out at Sage Hen (Montezuma County, Colorado, roughly 6300′) a couple days ago, I was admiring the blooms on the Serviceberry bushes (Amelanchier sp). They’re quite spectacular right now. Then I noticed some funny red tabs on…
Sagebrush Galls formed by Rhopalomyia midges
As I was hiking in Butler Wash, on the east side of Comb Ridge, Utah, I came across some striking, fluffy leaf-balls on a few of the Sagebrush (Artemesia tridentata?). The leaf-balls were soft, almost like one of those “office…