Beaked Twig Gall Wasp

Burnettweldia plumbella

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.

Beaked Twig Gall Wasp — Photo: Ken-ichi Ueda, CC BY

The wasp makes bright red or green galls with yellow spots that can grow up to 15 mm across. Adult wasps are tiny, only 3 to 4 mm long, and they emerge from the galls in late fall.

Source: Wikipedia

Size

Adults measure about 3 to 4 mm in length.

Source: Wikipedia

Life cycle

Galls develop in spring and summer, and the adult wasps leave the galls in November and December.

Source: Wikipedia

When you see it

Adults emerge from the galls in November and December.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 1 of 51 states and DC. Most records: California.

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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

Beaked Twig Gall Wasp photo 2 — Photo: Cricket Raspet, CC BY

Beaked Twig Gall Wasp photo 3 — Photo: iNaturalist user, CC0

Beaked Twig Gall Wasp photo 4 — Photo: Madeleine Claire, CC BY

Beaked Twig Gall Wasp photo 5 — Photo: Garth Harwood, CC BY

Questions people ask

When do the adult wasps appear?

Adults emerge from the galls in November and December.

Source: Wikipedia

Sources

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnettweldia_plumbella

Look it up elsewhere: iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-24.