#365daysofbiking From little acorns:
July 15th - More galls: I mentioned knopper galls recently and pointed out these wasp galls deform acorn buds to form a home for the wasp larva within. I found an illustration of this in Victoria Park Darlaston.
This is a knapper gall starting to form. The acorn cap is normal, but where the smooth, rounded nascent acorn should be, there is a knobbly, textured growth which will expand to form the gall.
The DNA of the acorn has literally been corrupted or reformed to grow a home for the wasp egg within by a chemical the egg was coated with.
How does such a mechanism evolve? It’s truly wonderful.
This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.
cedar100-blog1 liked this brownhillsbob posted this
