Hedgehog Gall Wasp – Acaraspis erinacei

Hedgehog Gall Wasp (Acraspis erinacei) Latin Name: Acraspis erinacei Common Name: Hedgehog Gall Wasp Appearance: These wasps are usually black, although they can also be yellowish or brownish. Their hindquarters are more prominent than their chest and head combined, and they have a humpback with two-segmented abdomens. These galls have a diameter of around 13mm (about the size of a coin) and contain 3-5 larval cells. It’s unknown why they reproduce this way or how it will help them in the long run. Their wings are translucent, and they have no stinger, so you don’t have to worry about them harming you. Hosts plants:  White Oak Trees Territory: This wasp may be found across the central and eastern United States, including Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Texas. They can also be found in the lower parts of Quebec and Ontario. Damage insect caused by Hedgehog Gall Wasp: Hedgehog gall wasps rely on their host tree to survive; therefore, they only do minor harm. 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 habitat:  The life cycles of the hedgehog gall wasp are divided into two categories. The sexual generation, which forms galls on the leaf buds after mating, and the asexual generation, which only comprises female wasps, is the two types. These wasps form the “hedgehog” galls on the tree leaves. When the larvae reach adulthood, they emerge as all-female wasps from the gall. The females will then lay their eggs on the host tree’s leaf buds, forming a thin-walled blister on the inner face of the bud that will show as the bud opens in the spring. The freshly born larvae will grow into further galls and emerge as both male and female wasps many weeks later. After that, this generation will mate, and the cycle will begin again.