Neuroterus numismalis, Oak Silk-button Gall

Common Name: Oak Silk-button Gall

Neuroterus numismalis is a gall wasp that forms chemically induced leaf galls on oak trees. It has both bisexual and agamic generations and forms two distinct galls on oak leaves, the Silk-button Gall and Blister Gall. The galls can be very numerous with more than a thousand per leaf.

The wasp creates 3 mm diameter golden brown discs with a pronounced central depression on the underside of oak leaves in late summer-early autumn. The next generation in spring forms small oval galls on the male catkins and leaf margins.

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