Andricus, Hartig, 1840

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 : 469

Andricus sp. 1

Host plant in Israel: Q. boissieri .

Life history. Known only from the bud galls of the asexual generation, which are spherical, 10–12 mm in diameter, with tiny protuberances on distal half, carried on a distinct stalk and are light brown ( Fig. 19 ). The walls of the gall are thick and encircle a single, thin-walled larval chamber.

Phenology. Galls attained their final size and shape in August, when they contained big larvae, and a single adult emerged in November.

Distribution. Israel: rare, found only on Mt. Hermon at 1500 and 1780 m.a.s.l.

Comments. The galls of this species are somewhat similar to those of A. sternlichti ( Fig. 20 ) but are much smaller, carried on a longer stalk, and their protuberances are limited to the apical half of the gall whereas those on galls of A. sternlichti are found all over the gall. They are also somewhat similar to galls of Dryocosmus tavakolii Melika, Stone & Azizkhani , but adult morphology and preliminary molecular data (Shachar, unpublished) suggest that they represent a distinct species, the formal description of which will be published elsewhere.

The following two species are considered to be undescribed because of their unique gall morphologies, which do not resemble those of any known species. Although no adults were reared from the galls, they are tentatively ascribed here to Andricus based on the general resemblance of some gall attributes to those of Andricus species in Israel and Europe.

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.