Pumpkin Gall Wasp

Dryocosmus minusculus · Order: Hymenoptera · Family: Cynipidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Pumpkin Gall Wasp
Photo: Eddie Dunbar, CC BY-SA

Fresh galls appear pale with darker centers. The wasp makes these galls on oak trees in California. It lays eggs on the leaves of coast live oak, interior live oak, and California black oak.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

New galls are light-colored with a darker spot in the middle.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

It creates galls on oak trees in California, North America.

Source: Wikipedia

What it eats

The female wasp inserts eggs into the leaves of Quercus agrifolia, Q. wislizenii, and Q. kelloggii.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 42 of 51 states and DC. Most records: California, Ohio, Virginia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, Texas, New Jersey.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Status: native in North America; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist

Months it is reported in the US

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Source: GBIF

More photos

Pumpkin Gall Wasp photo 3
Photo: unknown, CC0
Pumpkin Gall Wasp photo 4
Photo: Michele Jones, CC BY
Pumpkin Gall Wasp photo 5
Photo: Cricket Raspet, CC BY
Pumpkin Gall Wasp photo 6
Photo: Eddie Dunbar, CC BY-SA

Same family (Cynipidae)

Mossy Rose Gall WaspMossy Rose Gall WaspDiplolepis rosaeHarmlessCalifornia Gall WaspCalifornia Gall WaspAndricus quercuscalifornicusCommon Spangle Gall WaspCommon Spangle Gall WaspNeuroterus quercusbaccarumCherry Gall WaspCherry Gall WaspCynips quercusfoliiWool Sower Gall WaspWool Sower Gall WaspCallirhytis seminatorOak Marble Gall WaspOak Marble Gall WaspAndricus kollariHarmless

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dryocosmus_minusculus

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.