---
title: "California Gall Wasp"
description: "Andricus quercuscalifornicus — Insectes et araignées. Andricus quercuscalifornicus (occasionally Andricus californicus), or the California gall wasp, is a small wasp species that induces oak apple galls on white oaks, primarily the valley oak (Quercus lobata) but also other species such as Quercus berberidifolia, and Quercus garryana in Oregon."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/fr/animal/california-gall-wasp
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# California Gall Wasp

> Andricus quercuscalifornicus — Insectes et araignées. Andricus quercuscalifornicus (occasionally Andricus californicus), or the California gall wasp, is a small wasp species that induces oak apple galls on white oaks, primarily the valley oak (Quercus lobata) but also other species such as Quercus berberidifolia, and Quercus garryana in Oregon.

- Scientific name: *Andricus quercuscalifornicus*
- Category: `insects` (Insectes et araignées)
- Habitats: `forest` (Forêt)
- iNaturalist observations: 18068
- Wikidata: [Q14497590](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14497590)
- iNaturalist taxon: [55887](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/55887)

## Names

- en: California Gall Wasp

## Countries with the most observations

US (17133), MX (153), CA (13)

## Summary

Andricus quercuscalifornicus (occasionally Andricus californicus), or the California gall wasp, is a small wasp species that induces oak apple galls on white oaks, primarily the valley oak (Quercus lobata) but also other species such as Quercus berberidifolia, and Quercus garryana in Oregon. The California gall wasp is considered an ecosystem engineer, capable of manipulating the growth of galls for their own development. It is found from Washington, Oregon, and California to northern regions of Mexico. Often multiple wasps in different life stages occupy the same gall. The induced galls help establish complex insect…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andricus_quercuscalifornicus

## Photo

![California Gall Wasp](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/california-gall-wasp/medium.jpg)

Photo: rockybajada · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/141420455

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/california-gall-wasp?lang=fr` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).