Bassettia pallida ASHMEAD, 1896

Melika, G & Abrahamson, WG, 2007, Review Of The Nearctic Gallwasp Species Of The Genus Bassettia Ashmead, 1887, With Description Of New Species (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini), Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 53 (2), pp. 131-148 : 140

Bassettia pallida ASHMEAD, 1896

( Figs 1–2, 6 , 21–22 )

Bassettia pallida ASHMEAD 1896: 128 . Female.

Type material examined – Holotype female “Savannah, Ga, Apr. 15.84”, red “Type No 3083, USNM ”, handwritten “ Bassettia pallida Ashm ”.

Other material examined – 26 females: 16 with “Q. virginiana ”, “Mahogany, Fl.”, 10 with “ Florida, Broward Co., Fl. Lauderdale 2.II.1983, Q. virginiana . Collected by F. M. Howard ” (in the USNM) ; 26 females collected at the Archbold Biological Station , Highlands Co., Florida (from CNCI and SPL) .

Diagnosis – Similar to B. virginiana , however, the notauli complete, mesosoma and head are brown. In B. virginiana , notauli are incomplete, very weak, present in the posterior 1/3 of the mesoscutum only; mesosoma and head are black. Also similar to B. floridana (see Diagnosis for B. floridana ).

Biology – Only the asexual generation is known which induces stem galls with cells hidden under the bark of Q. geminata SMALL and Q. virginiana MILL. Adults emerge in April in Georgia ( WELD 1959) and in March in Florida.

Distribution – USA: Georgia ( ASHMEAD 1896), Florida ( WELD 1951, 1959; Archbold Biological Station, Lake Placid, Highlands Co.).

Figures

Figs 1–8. 1–2 = Bassettia pallida, head: 1 = from above, 2 = front view. 3–4 = Plagiotrochus quercusilicis, head:3 = from above, 4 =front view. 5 = Bassettia tenuana, fore wing. 6–7 = propodeum:6 = B.

Figs 17–23. 17–19 = Bassettia archboldi: 17 = fore wing, 18 = body, lateral view, 19 = scutum and scutellum, dorsal view. 20–21 = female antenna: 20 = B. virginiana, 21 = B. pallida. 22–23 = scutum