Galls under an oak leaf in Birch Creek Unit of Somerville Lake State Park. Texas, November 11, 2012
Galls of wasp Belonocnema kinseyi on underside of a fallen live oak leaf in Zilker Botanical Gardens. Austin, Texas, November 7, 2009
Galls on an oak leaf near Birch Creek Unit of Somerville Lake State Park. Texas, July 19, 2014
Close up of galls on an oak leaf near Birch Creek Unit of Somerville Lake State Park. Texas, July 19, 2014
Gall (Woolly growth) on a dry oak leaf in Wolf Pen Creek Park. College Station, Texas, November 30, 2017
Woolly growth (gall) on a dry oak leaf in Bastrop State Park. Bastrop, Texas, November 28, 2019
Orange woolly growth (gall) on a fallen oak leaf in Bastrop State Park. Bastrop, Texas, November 28, 2019
Woolly growth (gall) on a dry oak leaf on Richards Loop Trail in Sam Houston National Forest. Texas, November 5, 2020
Milky false truffle mushroom Zelleromyces cinnabarinus placed on an oak leaf with a gall on Richards Loop Trail in Sam Houston National Forest. Texas, December 28, 2021
Small, reddish spheres of oak leaf galls (specifically from the gall wasp Belonocnema kinseyi or a related cynipid species) harvested by ants at Lake Somerville Trailway near Birch Creek Unit of Somerville Lake State Park. Texas, December 14, 2025
Oak leaf galls (specifically from the gall wasp Belonocnema kinseyi or a related cynipid species) at Lake Somerville Trailway near Birch Creek Unit of Somerville Lake State Park. Ants harvest the galls, carry them back to the nest to consume the nutritious outer layer, and often discard the hard inner "seed" (which contains the wasp larva) unharmed. This is a newly discovered form of "myrmecochory" (ant dispersal) where the gall wasp manipulates the ants to transport its offspring to the safety of the ant nest. Texas, December 14, 2025
