These little miracles (Antron douglasii aka Spined Turban #Gall #Wasp) emerged from pink stars on Christmas Eve. Happy gallidays!

After 3 weeks of California’s tule fog persisting where I live, I finally saw a brief blue sky today… and an adult wasp of Xanthoteras clavuloides (aka Club #Gall #Wasp) emerged from her gall! I guess I wasn’t the only one who’s been longing for some winter sunshine ☀️

Over this weekend, we got grocery bags full of wild mushrooms from the northern forests of CA. We think they will be awesome additions to our holiday meals but some of our family members are scared to eat them so it’ll be just more for us! 😜 #fungifriends

Another species that is known to emerge in late fall in CA. Happy to meet her for the first time! www.inaturalist.org/observations...

This tiny wasp who emerged from a miniature chestnut husk (Atrusca trimaculosa aka Woollybear Gall Wasp) reminds us how important self-care is. Well, she is doing a lot better job than I am! 😆

Not a bad start of our mushroom season!

However small my role may be, I’m proud to be a part of this research! @lordforbington.bsky.social @toomanywasps.bsky.social @guerin-brown.bsky.social stories.uiowa.edu/galls-thieve...

I had a great time hiking with @jeffc666.bsky.social and Izabella when they visited CA and watching them do exactly what they love to do!

As a child Jane Goodall taught me that the least I could do was speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves. I will always be a voice for the voiceless no matter how small the creature. Jane Goodall 4/3/1934 - 10/1/2025

It's chicken of the woods aka COW season in California! This one made an unexpected appearance on this gorgeous work of art. Hoo made it? NorCal Artist William Thomas, photographed by Sheri Oswald, and shared with her enthusiastic permission here! #mushroomart #foraging

Until recently @ymilesz.bsky.social taught me, I didn't know anything about the fascinating synbiotic relationship between fig trees and fig wasps. So I've been wanting to see their work in the wild, and found it on the last day of #September2025GallWeek ! www.inaturalist.org/observations...

'Tis the season to search for lumps on plants, aka galls! These growths are created in response to other organisms — often insects, fungi, or bacteria — injecting their chemicals into the plant. 🧵⤵️ Join the gall celebrations: tr.ee/ziMCEH

No, these are not berries. They are galls made by Dryocosmus castanopsidis on Chrysolepis chrysophylla. On today’s hike, it was so nice to see them in such abundance. Many of them are already dropping to the ground and getting ready to overwinter in the leaf litter.

Last week we took a road trip to Shasta/Trinity region in Northern California and got to see a lot of cool stuff. One of the highlights was a rare #oak called #Quercus sadleriana, and its rare #galls Neuroterus sadlerensis.

SIMPLE! 😸😸😸😸

Uber Scavengers www.sfgate.com/local/articl...

A visiting cat with her favorite toy 😻 I miss having my own cat…

Once in a while, I get this all-golden, red-eyed Sycophila (a parasitoid of Cynipini) females from various oak galls 🤩 I hope someday, someone gives them a well-deserved beautiful scientific name (unless they have one already).

What is it like to be so small that a droplet of water is too much to drink?

Butterfly once thought to be locally extinct emerges in San Francisco neighborhood www.sfgate.com/local/articl...

My spring rearing season is pretty much over and I feel like empty nesting… 😝

Yesterday was our first float trip of this year. A lovely day ☺️

DNA verified Sclerotiniaceae sp. ‘CA02’ growing on a tan oak acorn in Sonoma County, California. The third known observation of this apparently rare and likely undescribed species. Sequenced by Mycota Lab. iNat 229196445 / MO 489006 #fungi #ascomycota #macro #fungifriends

I'm excited to be leading 2 spring mushroom hunts in the Sierra Nevada with @forkinthepath on June 7 & 8. We will be looking for morels & porcini while learning about photographing mushrooms & Sierra Nevada ecology. More info at www.forkinthepath.org/classes

So our morel hunting wasn’t successful, but it led to an unexpected discovery. This is the only third known record of Andricus mendocinensis since it was described, and first on @inaturalist.bsky.social ! www.inaturalist.org/observations...

We did 6 times better than last week! 😂 #fungifriends bsky.app/profile/nori...

My first Diplolepis!

Even though our morel hunting wasn’t successful, I got to see some cool wildflowers so it was worth it 🥰

Just to prove the point in my previous post, we didn’t do too badly last winter 😄

Went to look for morels in the late spring rain (unusual treat for CA)… but found only one. Really??? We should be able to better than that! 😂

Our global phylogeny of Eurytomidae is now published in Systematic Entomology @respublications.bsky.social resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

New #gall #wasp paper from our lab! We review the genera of Phanacidini herb gall wasps, present the first record from China, and identify a new tribal diagnostic character! Now onto revising the species and genera… every synonymized genus needs to be resurrected! www.mapress.com/zt/article/v...

I’m usually disappointed when a parasitoid emerges from my oak gall but this one definitely impressed me. She was the biggest and prettiest Torymus I’ve seen in person!

My reaction when someone thinks I’m weird for liking bugs…

Party time for the spring generation of Dryocosmus dubiosus! 🥳

I just learned that May 3-11 is GALL WEEK on @inaturalist.bsky.social www.inaturalist.org/projects/gal...

I just don’t get tired of watching another Feron kingi emerging from her little red cone ☺️

These Heteroecus melanoderma (a.k.a. Golden Gall Wasp) galls lost most of their blonde hair over the winter but surely protected true gold inside 🤩

I forgot that I brought back these rose gall shaped candy from my Japanese collaborator Tatsuya Ide when I was there for #ICE2024, shaped like D.japonica galls but does not taste like it (I assume)?

#NewSpecies alert! We just published a paper in Zootaxa describing two gorgeous species of #Ormyrus parasitoid wasps associated with herb #gall #wasps! Ormyrus bellbowl is named after the Bell Bowl #Prairie in opposition to its abhorrent partial destruction in 2023. #PreserveOurPrairies

Apparently there are multiple Cynipini (oak gall wasp) species that make this type of cryptic bud galls. This one was on Quercus lobata and hopefully some adults I’ve been rearing will reveal their true identity by DNA 🤞

Another Feron kingi (a.k.a. Red Cone Gall Wasp) emerged successfully ❤️

A recent talk I gave about the mushrooms of Ecuador to the San Francisco Mycological Society. www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQCS...

This tiny leafminer I found by accident nearly two years ago got a DNA result back today. Thanks @ceiseman.bsky.social !! www.inaturalist.org/observations...

Feron kingi making her way out of a red cone gall

Spent my time after work this afternoon playing matchmaker (giving a pair of rarely-seen wingless Zopheropteras gall wasps a ride on my finger as I delivered them to nice oak buds. For science. I want to see what kind of galls they make)

The most recent lecture I gave on Oak Origins at The Morton Arboretum was really nicely recorded and is available for free online. This is the fullest and cleanest version of the lecture I've given to date, with some new info. I hope you enjoy it. Feel free to share. vimeo.com/1057955943

Spring is here in CA because oak gall wasps are out and busy making magic happen ❤️