Andricus Kollari - Gall Forming Insects

Gall Forming Insects

Some herbivorous insects therefore create their own micro-habitats by forming usually highly distinctive plant structures called galls, made up of plant tissue but controlled by the insect. Galls act as both the habitat, and food sources for the maker of the gall. The interior of a marble gall, formed from the bud, is composed of edible and other structural tissues.

Some galls act as "physiologic sinks", concentrating resources in the gall from the surrounding plant parts. Galls may also provide the insect, its parasites and inquilines, with a degree of physical protection from predators.

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