page_title: Andricus foecundatrix
section_title: Predators, inquilines and parasitoids
hierarchical_section_title: Andricus foecundatrix / Predators, inquilines and parasitoids
caption_attribution_description: Oak Artichoke gall in winter.
context_page_description: Andricus foecundatrix is a parthenogenetic gall wasp which lays a single egg within a leaf bud, using its ovipositor, to produce a gall known as an oak artichoke gall, oak hop gall, larch-cone gall or hop strobile The gall develops as a chemically induced distortion of leaf axillary or terminal buds on pedunculate oak or sessile oak trees. The larva lives inside a smaller hard casing inside the artichoke and this is released in autumn. The asexual wasp emerges in spring and lays her eggs in the oak catkins. These develop into small oval galls which produce the sexual generation of wasps. A yew artichoke gall caused by the fly Taxomyia taxi also exists, but is unrelated to the oak-borne species. Previous names or synonyms for the species A. fecundator are A. fecundatrix, A. pilosus, A. foecundatrix, A. gemmarum, A. gemmae, A. gemmaequercus, A. gemmaecinaraeformis and A. quercusgemmae.
  The scientific name is now once again Andricus foecundatrix.
context_section_description: Mature galls are sometimes broken open by vertebrate predators to recover the larva or pupa.
  A number of insect inquilines live harmlessly within the oak artichoke gall and some of these, as well as Andricus  itself, are parasitised by insects referred to as parasitoids. Some fungi may infect and kill the A. fecundator larvae.
  Andricus curvator, the causative agent of the 'collared-bud gall' shows a marked preference for depositing its eggs on buds already colonised by A. fecundator. This may represent an early phase in the development of the inquiline mode of life.
caption: Oak artichoke gall in winter
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