vavilovian_mimic's Journal

The other day i started my very first Inat project and gave it the really catchy title 'Casuarina Glauca Galls' https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/casuarina-glauca-galls
As an enthusiastic explorer of Casuarina glauca/ Swamp Oak Forests I'm intrigued by these rather mysterious tiny structures.

Mysterious  because I've hit a brick wall with identifying the inducers of many of the galls I've observed beyond Pterygota or Hymenoptera. It may be that I don't have access to the information (I'm not a scientist) or it may be that it doesn't exist. The latter seems unlikely given the prevalence of the galls around here. However I've been assured that when it comes to galls there may be little or no information to be found.
Nevertheless I find it hard to believe that this aspect of the ecology of a tree so common in Australia's biggest population centre could be so overlooked and under-observed. Perhaps it's just that I'm used to identifying plants not galls.

Though Swamp Oaks may be common the Swamp Oak Floodplain Forests of N.S.W are predicted to become extinct at some point in the future, so it seems like a good idea to document as much of the biodiversity surrounding C. glauca as possible.

While I expect this might be a mostly solitary pursuit, please join and keep an eye out for glauca galls. If you happen to see any do contribute to the project. It would be wonderful to have more observations from other people and places. I hope one day we'll be able to identify more of them, but for now I'm just going to enjoy the mystery.

Here's a bit of information about a gall you won't find on Casuarina glauca, although it is known as 'Casuarina gall':
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/casuarina-glauca-galls/journal/73965-the-deceptively-named-casuarina-gall-cylindrococcus-spiniferus