f bland folds. Where several grubs are competing for space the shape may become much more contorted, with several tightly bunched galls.
Kopper Galls. Image Courtesy of saharadesertfox.
Neuroterus numismalis is a gall wasp that forms chemically induced leaf galls on oak trees. It has both bisexual and agamic (parthenogenetic) generations and forms two distinct galls on oak leaves, the Silk button gall and Blister gall. The galls can be very numerous with more than a thousand per leaf. his Silk button spangle gall has a cover of golden hairs that give the impression of silk thread. The 0.3 cm button-shaped galls have a pronounced concavity and sit tightly against the leaf lamina.
Silk Button Galls on Oak. Image Courtesy of Image Courtesy of Beentree.
Neuroterus albipes is a gall wasp that forms chemically induced leaf galls on oak trees which has both bisexual and agamic generations and therefore forms two distinct galls, the Smooth Spangle gall and Schenck's gall. The normally cream colored saucer of the Smooth Spangle gall has a small cone elevated in its centre, a pronounced rim and they are sometimes found almost folded in two. The gall may have steaks of purple, red or other colors through it. Typically found on the lower surface, this gall is found more often on the upper surface than other spangle galls and although often grouped together, the numbers on each leaf are far fewer than in species such as Neuroterus quercusbaccarum. The gall is observed to swell appreciably once it has detached and fallen in late autumn. The gall has also been recorded as green, purple, red or pink.
Smooth Spangle Gall. Image Courtesy of Rosser1954
All bees collect nectar and pollen as their main source of food. One of the distinguishing characteristics of all these families is that their body hairs are profusely branched. This adaptation serves to capture and carry pollen. Worldwide, there are an estimated 20,000 species of bees (Michener, 2000), with approximately 4,000 species native to the United State. The non-native European honey bee (Apis mellifera) is the most important crop pollinator in the United States. However, because of disease and other factors the number of managed honey bee hives in the United States has declined by 50 percent since. During this same period, the amount of crop acreage requiring bee pollination has continued to grow. This makes native pollinators even more important to the future of agriculture.
Native bees provide free pollination services (as opposed to honey bee which are typically rented) and are often specialized for foraging on particular flowers, such as squash, berries or orchard crops. This specialization results in more efficient pollination and the production of larger and more abundant fruit from certain crops. The pollination done by native bees contributes an estimated $3 billion worth of crop production annually to the U.S. economy.
Native bees come in a wide range of colors and sizes, from tiny sweat bees less than a quarter of an inch long to bumble bees over an inch in length. Most are solitary, with each female creating and provisioning her nest without the support of a caste system of workers.
About 70 percent of native bees excavate underground nests while 30 percent of bees nest in wood tunnels, usually pre-existing holes such as those made by wood-boring beetles, but some will chew out the center of pithy twigs. In the case of both ground-nesting and wood-nesting bees, once the nest is complete, the mother bee generally dies. Her offspring will remain in the nest, passing through the egg, larva and pupa stages before emerging as an adult to renew the cycle. For some species this life cycle may progress over a matter of weeks, resulting in a second generation of bees in a single season. A few species may remain dormant for over a year. Most solitary bees however complete this life cycle over the course of a full year.
Native bees often only live for a few weeks as actively flying adults. They mate immediately upon emergence and the females begin nesting. They lay relatively few e