Dear All,

Does anyone know where I can get hold of reference specimens of wheat-seed nematode gall, Anguina tritici, please?

 

I have been working on samples from a barn in Wharram Percy, Yorkshire, UK, burnt down in the 16^th century, containing mainly bread-type wheat stored in the sheaf with some miss-shaped ‘grains’ that Allan Hall very kindly suggested might be Anguina tritici galls. A drawing of one of the charred galls from Wharram can be seen at http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~arh1/Gall%202.JPG  (many thanks to Kath Hunter for the drawing and to Allan Hall for arranging the link).

 

Although I have sent examples to several gall experts in the UK and some of them think it may be Anguina tritici, nobody will confirm the identification. The remains appear to match drawings and photos in books and on the internet, but I obviously need to see reference material. This is proving to be difficult, as the pest has been screened out of UK crops since the 1950’s so reference material is scarce here. I’d be very grateful if anyone could lend me a few galls, or tell me where I could get hold of some, please.

 

I’d also be interested to hear if anyone else has found these remains. Now that we have seen lots of examples (they are quite variable in shape but usually have that distinctive point on the top and are usually hollow) Allan and I have found them in a few other charred assemblages we have worked on in the past.

 

Best Wishes,

Wendy