Andricus quercuspetiolicola
Andricus quercuspetiolicola, also called the oak petiole gall wasp, is a species of oak gall wasp in the family Cynipidae.[1] Galls in which the larvae live and feed are formed along the midrib or petiole of white oak leaves.[1]
Andricus quercuspetiolicola | |
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Galls on bur oak | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Hymenoptera |
Family: | Cynipidae |
Genus: | Andricus |
Species: | A. quercuspetiolicola |
Binomial name | |
Andricus quercuspetiolicola (Bassett, 1863) | |
Synonyms | |
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Range
This species occurs throughout the eastern half of North America where its host plants grow.[1][2][3][4]
Galls
The oak petiole gall wasp forms galls on white oaks, including Quercus alba, Q. bicolor, Q. montana, Q. macrocarapa, Q. michauxii, Q. prinoides, and Q. stellata.[1][2]
The galls of the sexual generation are round or club-shaped and formed on the petiole or midrib of the leaves in spring, with adults of both sexes emerging from galls in late June and early July.[1][2] The gall is a firm swelling with a scar at the apex and contains several cells, each with a larvae.[1][2] It is initially green but becomes brown and woody as it ages.[1][2][5]
The galls and timing of the agamic generation are unknown.[3]
Parasitoids of the oak petiole gall wasp include the crypt-keeper wasp (Euderus set).[6]
Taxonomy
The adults were first described by Homer Franklin Bassett in 1863 with the name Cynips quercuspetiolicola, though the galls had been previously described by Carl Robert Osten-Sacken.[5] This species is now considered to be in the genus Andricus, and several other names are considered synonyms.[7]
References
- Weld, L. Hart. (1959). Cynipid galls of the Eastern United States. Ann Arbor, Mich.
- Beutenmuller, William (1892). "Catalogue of gall-producing insects found within fifty miles of New York City, with descriptions of their galls, and of some new species" (PDF). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 4: 245–278.
- Digweed, Scott (2006). "Diversity of gall wasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) on bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa Michx.) in Riding Mountain National Park, MB". Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Alberta. 53.
- "Oak Petiole Gall Wasp (Andricus quercuspetiolicola)". iNaturalist. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
- Bassett, H.F. (1863). "Descriptions of several supposed new species of Cynips, with remarks on the formation of certain galls". Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Philadelphia. 2: 323–333.
- Ward, Anna K. G.; Khodor, Omar S.; Egan, Scott P.; Weinersmith, Kelly L.; Forbes, Andrew A. (2019-09-27). "A keeper of many crypts: a behaviour-manipulating parasite attacks a taxonomically diverse array of oak gall wasp species". Biology Letters. 15 (9): 20190428. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2019.0428. ISSN 1744-9561. PMC 6769138. PMID 31551066.
- Poole, Robert W.; Gentili, P. (1996). Hymenoptera, Mecoptera, Megaloptera, Neuroptera, Raphidioptera, Trichoptera. Nomina Insecta Nearctica: A Check List of the Insects of North America. Vol 2 (PDF). Entomological Information Services. ISBN 1-889002-02-X. OCLC 35184098.