Tanaostigmodes sp. 1
Meaning of name: Unknown.
Distribution: Unknown.
Remarks: This wasp is approximately 3 millimetres long and emerged from a gall on Bossiaea eriocarpa. Female wasps lay their eggs in the tissue of the plant. In response, the plant forms a gall around the foreign body – the egg. The young wasp feeds on the plant tissue inside the gall. It pupates in the gall and emerges as a fully formed adult wasp.
The galls were photographed in September and the wasps emerged in October.
Associations: Bossiaea eriocarpa.
References: Identification courtesy of Terry Houston, WA Museum.
Life in a Gall. Rosalind Blanche. 2012
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The freshly emerged wasp is sitting on a shrivelled gall.
This is the developing wasp inside a gall.
The red, berry-like structures are galls created by a Tanaostigmodes sp wasp on Bossiaea eriocarpa.
This is a female wasp as viewed under a microscope. Photograph courtesy of Terry Houston, WA Museum.
This is a male wasp as viewed under a microscope. Photograph courtesy of Terry Houston, WA Museum.
