Abstract

HERNANDEZ-SOTO, Paulina et al. Developmental morphology of bud galls induced on the vegetative meristems of Quercus castanea by Amphibolips michoacaensis (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae). Bot. sci [online]. 2015, vol.93, n.4, pp.685-693. ISSN 2007-4476.  https://doi.org/10.17129/botsci.607.

A gall is the result of complex interactions between a gall inducing-insect and its host plant. Certain groups of insects have the ability to induce a new structure, a gall, on plant organs by altering the normal growth of the host involved plant organ. The gall usually provides shelter and nutrients, in addition to protection against adverse environmental conditions and natural enemies to the inducing insect and its offspring. The ecological uniqueness of a gall is that it allows the inducing-insect to complete their life cycles. In this study, we have described the structures of different stages of growth of a gall induced by Amphibolips michoacaensis on the buds of leaves on Quercus castanea (Fagaceae) to know the subcellular changes during development. The gall consist of various layers such as a nutritive tissue, a lignified sheath, a spongy layer and an outermost epidermis around a centrally located larval chamber. The nutritive cell of the larval chamber show nuclear and nucleolar hypertrophy in the early phases of growth. The granular profile of the nucleolus suggests an active synthesis of ribosomes indicating an accelerated protein synthesis in these cells. During early stages of growth, the cells of the spongy layers within galls are nucleate and nucleolate and include amyloplasts, and the cytoplasm is less abundant. During later growth stages, the spongy cells are enucleate and enucleolate. Chloroplasts occur in the epidermal cells during early stages of growth, indicating that galls are photosynthetically active in early stages of growth. During intermediate stages of growth, a gradual loss of cellular components occurs commencing in the epidermal cells and progressing towards the nutritive cells.

Keywords : Amphibolips michoacaensis; Cynipidae; gall morphology; Hymenoptera; Quercus castanea.

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