Gall wasps are incredible animals by all accounts. These tiny, stingless, parasites attack plants and force the host plant to form a tumor-like growth in which gall wasp larvae develop. These growths, called galls, are part of what make these insects so very interesting. The appearance of the galls is species specific, with each species creating a unique looking gall. The oak gall wasps are those that specialize on oaks and their kin. These wasps are very common across the US and in Maryland. Dr. Crystal Cooke, Curator of the CP Gillette Museum of Arthropod Diversity, and entomology instructor at Colorado State University will discuss the diversity of oak gall wasps in the Maryland area, the basics of their biologies, and ways that the community can help researchers study these interesting creatures.
Crystal earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Colorado State University and then came to the Maryland area when she did her PhD at the University of Maryland in consort with the Smithsonian. Crystal studies small parasitic wasps including those that make oak galls. She is currently teaching and curating a large insect collection at Colorado State University but her wasps are all over the country and beyond.