Andricus lustrans Beutenmüller 1913

Zhang, Y. Miles, Sasan, Kimberlie, O’Kennon, Robert J. & Kranz, Adam J., 2022, Discovery through iNaturalist: new species and new records of oak gall wasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini) from Texas, USA, Zootaxa 5168 (1), pp. 63-74 : 69-70

Andricus lustrans Beutenmüller 1913 , comb. rev.

Figs. 19–22

Zopheroteras vaccinii Burks, 1979 .

Callirhytis lustrans Weld, 1926 .

Andricus dimorphus verifactor, Kinsey, 1922 .

Andricus impositus, Beutenmüller, 1918 .

Acraspis vaccinii (erroneously associated with gall only) Ashmead, 1887.

Materials examined: Holotype: ♀, USA, TX, Austin, C. Hartman Leg.; USNM; Cotype No. 24649 USNMENT 00802158 . Other material: 106♀, NY, New York City, Bronx Park , 11/16, Quercus , mid-Nov., W. Beutenmüller leg., Cotype No. 21784 USNMENT00802136. 2♀, TX, Austin , 12.III.1922., Patterson Leg., USNM 26015 , USNM. 3♀, TX, Keller, Bourland Cemetery, 32.9474, -97.2436, 13.XI.2020. K. Sasan Leg., Quercus stellata, USNM .

The gall of A. lustrans was first described by itself (without the larva or adult wasp) from Quercus stellata Wangenh. ( Osten Sacken, 1862) . As this name based on gall alone was established before 1931, it is considered valid according to ICZN article 23.3.2. Ashmead described a new wingless wasp and erroneously associated it with the gall Osten Sacken had described as Acraspis vaccinii Ashmead, 1887 (later transferred to Zopheroteras vaccinii by Beutenmüller in 1909a), while reprinting Osten Sacken’s description of the gall ( Ashmead 1887).

In 1913 Beutenmüller described the wasp ( Fig. 19–21 ) without the gall as Andricus lustrans Beutenmüller, 1913 , and the same species with its gall a few years later which he named Andricus impositus Beutenmüller, 1918 . He commented that the gall of A. impositus is similar to Z. vaccinii but the wasp did not match ( Beutenmüller, 1918). Kinsey also separately described this species under the name Andricus dimorphus var. verifactor Kinsey, 1922 , reared from Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. In 1926, Weld concluded that A. impositus and A. dimorphus var. verifactor are the junior synonyms of A. lustrans , and transferred the species to Callirhytis ( Weld, 1926) . Most recently, the species was then erroneously synonymized with Z. vaccinii by Burks (1979) based on Ashmead’s error. The senior author examined the holotype specimen and freshly collected materials ( Figs. 19–22 ), reinstating the name A. lustrans as the species lacks the diagnostic characteristics of Callirhytis . In the Nearctic Cynipini phylogeny by Ward et al. (2022), A. lustrans was recovered as the sister group to an undescribed “pentagonal cluster” gall, both of which are related to Andricus pisiformis Beutenmüller, 1911 and Andricus quercusstrobilanus ( Osten Sacken, 1862) . A similar-looking gall was recently described as Andricus chapmanii Melika & Abrahamson, 2021 , but the adults of A. lustrans can be easily separated using characters such as the incomplete notaulus ( Fig. 21 ), and metasomal tergites smooth ( Fig. 19 ) ( Melika et al. 2021a).

There is a large series of over 100 specimens collected from Bronx Park in NY that are identified as A. lustrans (identified as A. impositus ) collected by Beutenmüller (1918) at NMNH, which he stated as common in the region but is becoming urbanized. There are no current records of this species on iNaturalist outside of TX, which could suggest a reduction in their distribution, despite Q. stellata being found across eastern US. Additional host records include Quercus sinuata var. breviloba (Torr.) C.H.Mull. ( Weld 1959) .

Figures

FIGURES 19–22. Andricus lustrans. 19. Holotype lateral habitus. 20. Holotype head frontal. 21. Holotype dorsal habitus. 22. Asexual generation gall.