norikonbuchan
nature lover. animal lover. okay forager. accidental gallwasp-ologist. occasional paddler. childless cat lady who is also currently catless
- Reposted by norikonbuchanWhen four dams on the Klamath River in California came down, we saw what happens when a river starts being restored. pat.ag/B/FreeFlowin...
- Reposted by norikonbuchanFinally published! "Thirty-three new species of Agromyzidae (Diptera) from the United States and Canada, with new host and distribution records for 154 additional species." Now I've got some updating to do on BugGuide and iNaturalist...
- These little miracles (Antron douglasii aka Spined Turban #Gall #Wasp) emerged from pink stars on Christmas Eve. Happy gallidays!
- After 3 weeks of California’s tule fog persisting where I live, I finally saw a brief blue sky today… and an adult wasp of Xanthoteras clavuloides (aka Club #Gall #Wasp) emerged from her gall! I guess I wasn’t the only one who’s been longing for some winter sunshine ☀️
- Over this weekend, we got grocery bags full of wild mushrooms from the northern forests of CA. We think they will be awesome additions to our holiday meals but some of our family members are scared to eat them so it’ll be just more for us! 😜 #fungifriends
- Another species that is known to emerge in late fall in CA. Happy to meet her for the first time! www.inaturalist.org/observations...
- This tiny wasp who emerged from a miniature chestnut husk (Atrusca trimaculosa aka Woollybear Gall Wasp) reminds us how important self-care is. Well, she is doing a lot better job than I am! 😆
- Not a bad start of our mushroom season!
- However small my role may be, I’m proud to be a part of this research! @lordforbington.bsky.social @toomanywasps.bsky.social @guerin-brown.bsky.social stories.uiowa.edu/galls-thieve...
- I had a great time hiking with @jeffc666.bsky.social and Izabella when they visited CA and watching them do exactly what they love to do!
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- Until recently @ymilesz.bsky.social taught me, I didn't know anything about the fascinating synbiotic relationship between fig trees and fig wasps. So I've been wanting to see their work in the wild, and found it on the last day of #September2025GallWeek ! www.inaturalist.org/observations...
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[This post could not be retrieved] - No, these are not berries. They are galls made by Dryocosmus castanopsidis on Chrysolepis chrysophylla. On today’s hike, it was so nice to see them in such abundance. Many of them are already dropping to the ground and getting ready to overwinter in the leaf litter.
- Last week we took a road trip to Shasta/Trinity region in Northern California and got to see a lot of cool stuff. One of the highlights was a rare #oak called #Quercus sadleriana, and its rare #galls Neuroterus sadlerensis.
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- Uber Scavengers www.sfgate.com/local/articl...
- A visiting cat with her favorite toy 😻 I miss having my own cat…
- Once in a while, I get this all-golden, red-eyed Sycophila (a parasitoid of Cynipini) females from various oak galls 🤩 I hope someday, someone gives them a well-deserved beautiful scientific name (unless they have one already).
- What is it like to be so small that a droplet of water is too much to drink?
- Butterfly once thought to be locally extinct emerges in San Francisco neighborhood www.sfgate.com/local/articl...
- My spring rearing season is pretty much over and I feel like empty nesting… 😝
- Yesterday was our first float trip of this year. A lovely day ☺️
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- So our morel hunting wasn’t successful, but it led to an unexpected discovery. This is the only third known record of Andricus mendocinensis since it was described, and first on @inaturalist.bsky.social ! www.inaturalist.org/observations...
- We did 6 times better than last week! 😂 #fungifriends bsky.app/profile/nori...
- My first Diplolepis!
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- Even though our morel hunting wasn’t successful, I got to see some cool wildflowers so it was worth it 🥰
- Just to prove the point in my previous post, we didn’t do too badly last winter 😄
- Went to look for morels in the late spring rain (unusual treat for CA)… but found only one. Really??? We should be able to better than that! 😂
- Reposted by norikonbuchanOur global phylogeny of Eurytomidae is now published in Systematic Entomology @respublications.bsky.social resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
- The #Eurytomidae UCE phylogeny that I've been working on in the past few years is now out as a preprint. By using museum samples at NMNH and CIRAD, we generated the first global phylogeny of this diverse but poorly studied #Chalcidoidea family. 🧪 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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- I’m usually disappointed when a parasitoid emerges from my oak gall but this one definitely impressed me. She was the biggest and prettiest Torymus I’ve seen in person!
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- Party time for the spring generation of Dryocosmus dubiosus! 🥳
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- I just don’t get tired of watching another Feron kingi emerging from her little red cone ☺️
- These Heteroecus melanoderma (a.k.a. Golden Gall Wasp) galls lost most of their blonde hair over the winter but surely protected true gold inside 🤩
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- Apparently there are multiple Cynipini (oak gall wasp) species that make this type of cryptic bud galls. This one was on Quercus lobata and hopefully some adults I’ve been rearing will reveal their true identity by DNA 🤞
- Another Feron kingi (a.k.a. Red Cone Gall Wasp) emerged successfully ❤️
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- This tiny leafminer I found by accident nearly two years ago got a DNA result back today. Thanks @ceiseman.bsky.social !! www.inaturalist.org/observations...
- Feron kingi making her way out of a red cone gall
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