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A further dimension to the study of galls is the rearing of caterpillars through to the adult
insects, for example, the midge Urophora cardui from the globular stem-swellings of the
thistle Cirsium arvense. Some galls causers have inquilines, other animals which live in
the homes the causers make, and feed on the same food as the causers use. A further
complication arises from the predators which associate with some causers, mites of the
family Eriophyidae are sometimes preyed upon by mites of the family Erinea.
Galls are not necessarily just interesting phenomena, they can have a severe commercial
impact as well. Big bud of black currant and hazel, and the causers which feed on the
fruits of oak; also those which cause stunting and deformation of edible fruit trees and
other timber or ornamental trees, such as Artichoke gall Taxomyia taxi on yew Taxus
baccata, the rast Gymnosporangium sabinae on pears (which inhibits development of the
crop due to premature leaf fall) and the gall midge Lestodiplosis pyri which lays eggs in
the flower buds where the larvae feed. The rust Gymnosporangium juniperi is known to
sometimes affect apples, whilst American blight (the woolly aphid Erisoma lanigerum)
can cause terrible damage in an apple orchard. A disastrous pest of potatoes is the fungus
Synchitrium endobioticum which gives rise to black scab or potato cancer. There are, of
course, many others.
All records will be welcomed by Jerry Bowdrey, Assistant Curator - Natural History,
Museum Resource Centre, 14 Ryegate Road, Colchester COl 1YG. Voucher specimens
should be sent with field data, for preference, until one's skill is beyond doubt, or it is
something quite common. Anything unusual should always be sent for confirmation.
Ken Hill
AN ESSEX ANT-LION
Ant-lions can be spectacular insects resembling giant lacewings, to which they are
related. Although one species has recently reputedly been discovered in Suffolk there are
apparently no native species in Britain.
However, a very large ant-lion, in very good condition, but dead, arrived on my desk in
Southend Museum in June. It had been found sandwiched in bubble-wrap packaging
around grapes from India. I have had lots of cockroaches, spiders, a few beetles and
grasshoppers, and even a lizard arrived with foreign fruit, but this was my first ant-lion.
Somewhat resembling a dragonfly with large brown-spotted wings and clubbed antennae
it was most impressive when set.
It was identified by Steven Brookes at the Natural History Museum as Stenares improbus
Walker, and as the museum has within its collections only half a dozen old specimens the
Essex ant-lion has been added to the collection.
R. G. Payne