Smooth Pea Gall Wasp - Diplolepis eglanteriae/nervosa

The smooth rose pea gall is caused either by cynipid wasp Diplolepis nervosa or by Diplolepis eglanteriae on the leaves of the Dog-rose (Rosa canina). The galls are identical and Diplolepis eglanteriae cannot be recorded from the gall; adults have to be bred and keyed out.

Diplolepis nervosa also produces spiked galls, and these can be determined - see separate species account.

Gall  Adult

Anywhere that the host Dog-rose plant is found.

The adult insects emerge from their galls in spring.

Each gall is, in effect, a hollow, fleshy nursery chamber for a small white grub, the larva of the Diplolepis gall wasp, which feeds on the chamber wall. The galls appear to detach from the leaves before leaf fall and will lie in the leaf litter until the grub pupates and emerges as the small adult wasp, only about 4 mm long.

Quite common and widespread in Britain.

Fairly common in Leicestershire and Rutland.