Synophrus politus Hartig, 1843

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 : 480

Synophrus politus Hartig, 1843

Host plants. Israel: Q. ithaburensis . Elsewhere: several species from section Cerris.

Host gall-wasp. The sexual generation invades galls of species in the Andricus burgundus complex ( Pénzes et al. 2009).

Life history. Known only from the sexual generation, which develops in galls induced by the Andricus burgundus complex (e.g., A. caputmedusae , A. coriarius , A. curtisii ) ( Pujade-Villar et al. 2003a; Pénzes et al. 2009). In Israel, this species has been reared from the clustered, conical bud galls of A. coriarius ( Fig. 52), causing them to develop into a single spherical unilocular gall, up to 15 mm in diameter, of the same color of the branch, with very hard walls encircling a single larval chamber ( Fig. 41; Sternlicht 1968b, Figs 13, 15–17). Invaded galls were found in February and adult inquilines emerged in December-January.

Distribution. Israel: Mezar, Hosha’aya, Alonim, Tiv’on, Hasharon Forest. Elsewhere: Northwest Africa to Iran.

Comments. The galls of this species resemble somewhat those of Aphelonys persica but A. persica galls are light brown, with more delicate and sometimes wrinkled surface ( Fig. 37), whereas S. politus galls are of the same color of the branches, rougher and more rigid. Moreover, A. persica galls are hollow and thin-walled ( Fig. 38) relative to the very thick-walled galls of S. politus .