# Saucer Gall Wasp

*Feron gigas*

The gall is not built by the wasp, but by the oak tree itself, manipulated by the wasp's chemical secretions to grow a custom-made nursery.

- **Taxonomy:** Animalia › Arthropoda › Insecta › Hymenoptera › Cynipidae › Feron
- **IUCN Red List status:** Least Concern
- **Population trend:** stable
- **Biome:** forest
- **Habitat:** Oak woodlands, mixed deciduous forests, and suburban areas containing oak trees.
- **Diet:** Larvae feed on specialized plant tissues inside the gall; adults feed minimally on nectar or water.
- **Range:** North America, United States, California
- **Size:** Adults: 2-4 mm; Galls: 5-8 mm in diameter.
- **Lifespan:** Adults live 1-2 weeks; full life cycle takes 1 year.
- **Active:** diurnal
- **Threats:** Loss of mature oak woodlands, urbanization, and widespread chemical pesticide application.
- **Safe to approach?:** Harmless. These tiny wasps do not possess a functional stinger and cannot harm humans. You can safely observe them or their saucer-like galls on the undersides of oak leaves at any distance.

## About

Feron gigas , also known as the saucer gall wasp , is a species of gall-forming wasp in the genus Feron. It induces galls on the leaves of scrub oaks, blue oaks, and Engelmann oaks. The galls produced by its all-female generation, which emerges in winter, are 3-4 mm wide, circular with raised edges. They are red, pink, brown, or purple. The larval chamber exists as a raised bump in the gall's center. The bisexual generation produces galls...

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/951f13da-1bbb-4d79-9a87-4bba2beadda3
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1508475
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feron gigas
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/480494/medium.jpg (Ken-ichi Ueda, CC-BY, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.