Andricus megatruncicolus Melika, 2008

Shachar, Einat, Melika, George, Inbar, Moshe & Dorchin, Netta, 2018, The oak gall wasps of Israel (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae, Cynipini) - diversity, distribution and life history, Zootaxa 4521 (4), pp. 451-498 : 464-465

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4521.4.1
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:A4FD6137-25B0-43D5-845B-B4FDF4E9F5D7
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5949877
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/AC1F87FE-FFE9-FF88-FF61-F8CEFD11B69F
treatment provided by	Plazi (2019-03-26 18:17:11, last updated 2024-11-29 10:27:24)
scientific name	Andricus megatruncicolus Melika, 2008
status

Treatment

Host plants. Israel: Q. boissieri . Iran and Turkey: Q. infectoria .

Life history. Known only from the bud galls of the asexual generation, which are pentagon-shaped, 5–15 mm in diameter and single-chambered ( Fig. 21 View FIGURES 17–22 ). The galls are broadly attached to the branch and are composed of five flattened units that sheath a spherical mass. Old galls remain on the tree for several years.

Phenology. Galls develop over the summer and mature in September, adults emerge in the following spring ( Tavakoli et al. 2008).

Distribution. Israel: Very rare, found only twice in one location on Mt. Hermon at 1780 m.a.s.l. Elsewhere: Iran and Turkey.

Comments. The species epithet reflects the close similarity of the adults and galls of the asexual generation to those of Andricus truncicolus (Giraud) , and the larger size of the gall. The extreme rarity of purely asexual lifecycles in oak gallwasps ( Stone et al. 2002) suggests that A. megatruncicolus has a sexual generation which probably develops on oaks from section Cerris.

References

Stone, G. N., Schonrogge, K., Atkinson, R. J., Bellido, D. & Pujade-Villar, J. (2002) The population biology of oak gall wasp (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae). Annual Review of Entomology, 47, 633 - 668. https: // doi. org / 10.1146 / annurev. ento. 47.091201.145247

Tavakoli, M., Melika, G., Sadeghi, S. E., Penzes, Z., Assareh, M. A., Atkinson, R., Bechtold, M., Miko, I., Zargaran, M. R., Aligolizade, D., Barimani, H., Bihari, P., Pirozi, F., Fulop, D., Somogyi, K., Challis, R., Preuss, S., Nicholls, J. & Stone, G. N. (2008) New species of oak gallwaps from Iran (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini). Zootaxa, 1699, 1 - 64.

Figures

FIGURES 17–22. Galls on Quercus boissieri. 17. Andricus coriariformis, asexual generation; 18. Andricus moreae, asexual generation; 19. Andricus sp. 1, asexual generation; 20. Andricus sternlichti, asexual generation; 21. Andricus megatruncicolus, asexual generation; 22. Biorhiza pallida, sexual generation.