Bassettia floridana ASHMEAD, 1887

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 : 138-139

Bassettia floridana ASHMEAD, 1887

(Figs 11, 13, 15–16)

Bassettia floridana ASHMEAD 1887: 147 . Female.

Dryophanta corrugis BASSETT 1890: 71 . Female. WELD 1952: 336 (synonymy).

Type material examined – Bassettia floridana . Holotype female for B. floridana “Type No. 22844 USNM ”, handwritten “ Bassettia floridana Ashm ”. Dryophanta corrugis . Lectotype female (here designated) “Waterbury, Ct. H. F. Bassett Coll.”, red “ Paratype ”, handwritten “ Dryophanta corrugis ”, red “ Paratype No. 60102, USNM ”, two paralectotype females (here designated) “Waterbury, Ct.”, “Collection Ashmead”, handwritten “ Bassettia (Andricus) corrugis , female, Bass.”

Other material examined – Three females “ Ocala, Fla. ”, “ Bassettia floridana Ash. det. Weld ” ; two females “ Jacksonville, Fla ”, “Q. chapmanii”, “ Bassettia floridana det. Weld 1920” (from the USNM) , 6 females collected at the Archbold Biological Station , Highlands Co., Florida (from CNCI and G. Melika collection). For Dryophanta corrugis BASSETT – 3 females from A. Kinsey collection (deposited in the AMNH): “Wtby, Conn.” (probably Basset’s original handwriting, material collected in Waterbury, Connecticut) and red handwritten label “ Dry. corrugis . Paratype ”. It is not clear why A. Kinsey designated these three specimens as paratypes.

Diagnosis – Similar to B. pallida , however, in B. floridana the mesosoma is reddish brown, scutellar foveae distinct, separated by a median carina, and the dorso-axillar surface is triangular. In B. pallida , the mesosoma is dark brown to black, scutellar foveae are indistinct, not separated by a median carina, and the dorso-axillar surface is narrow, prolonged.

The galls are similar to those of Loxaulus vaccinii (ASHMEAD) ( WELD 1951) but the larval cells are nested, not scattered just under the bark and they are ellipsoid, larger, 3.2 mm long by 1.2 mm in diameter, while in L. vaccinii they are less than 2.0 mm long.

Biology – Only the asexual generation is known which induces galls at the base of the current year’s growth on Q. chapmanii SARG. Also observed to oviposit into the buds of Q. prinoides WILLD. ( BASSETT 1890). Galls mature in October and adults emerge in March–April.

Distribution – USA: Connecticut (Waterbury) ( BASSETT 1890), Florida (Ocala – WELD 1921; Archbold Biological Station, Lake Placid, Highlands Co.).