Ant-like Gallfly – Andricus lasius

Ant-like Gallfly (Andricus lasius) Latin Name: Andricus lasius Common Name: Ant-like Gallfly, Hairy Gall Wasp Appearance: Texture: hairy Color: brown, pink, red, yellow, tan Abundance: common Size: 6mm Territory: Andricus lasius is found across Europe, North Africa and North America Description of Sap Suckers: Sapsuckers are a species of woodpecker found in North America. Sapsucker wells are immediately identifiable. With its chisel-like beak, the bird drills a dozen or more tiny holes in a horizontal line, each less than half an inch apart. Then it returns to suck up the sap that has trickled out again. The bird produces the second row of holes slightly above the first when the flow begins to wane, generally after a few days. A sapsucker at work is identified by a rectangular pattern of nicely spaced holes in tree bark. The yellow-bellied sapsucker is the most common. It lives in Canada’s and Alaska’s frigid evergreen woods. It migrates east of the Rockies and spends the winter in the Southeast United States. Life History and Habits: The insect spends the winter as a larva in the gall, and the adult wasp grows and chews its way out in the early spring. It searches for growing leaf tissue on which to lay its eggs. The eggs hatch and the larvae feed on them, causing the gall to develop around them. Every year, a new generation is born.