Cola nut gall wasp
Andricus lignicola
The cola nut gall wasp is a tiny wasp that lives on oak trees. The mother lays one egg inside an oak bud, and the bud grows into a hard, scaly ball called a cola-nut gall. The baby wasp grows up safely inside.
Lives in
Europe, from Great Britain to Asia Minor, on oak trees
What does it eat?
The baby wasp lives inside the gall and feeds on it.
How fast is it?
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
Cola nut gall wasp about 22 km/h (14 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
A car driving in town about 50 km/h (31 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
The gall is green at first, then quickly turns grey brown with light red patches.
2
The galls grow in small groups but never join together.
3
A gall can grow to about 1 centimetre long and is shaped like an egg.
4
When the wasp comes out, a small round hole is left in the gall.
5
Even when there are lots of galls, they do not really harm the tree.
you asked
Most asked questions about Cola nut gall wasp
?Where does the cola nut gall wasp live?
On oak trees in Europe, from Great Britain to Asia Minor.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Andricus lignicola
- Named by
- Hartig, 1840
- Group
- Wasps and hornets
- Family
- Cynipidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hymenoptera > Cynipidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Andricus lignicola (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Rosser1954 Roger Griffith. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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