Cynips dugesi var simulatrix, new variety
agamic form

Cynips dugesi var C Kinsey

GALL. — As described for the species. [Thin-shelled, spherical, sessile, dull brown, unspotted, averaging 16.0 mm. in diameter, with the larval cell held centrally by fine, radiating fibers.] Apparently not to be distinguished from other varieties of dugesi, nor from Cynips bella bella which occurs in the same region. On leaves of Quercus undulata, Q. grisea, Q. oblongifolia, Q. arizonica , Q. Gambelii, and probably related oaks. Figure 263.

RANGE. — New Mexico: Magdalena ( Q . grisea, acc. Weld in Kinsey coll.). Near Alamogordo at 7000 ft. (galls, Q. undulata and Q. arizonica, Kinsey coll.). Highrolls (galls, Q. undulata, Kinsey coll.). Hillsboro (types, Q. grisea, Kinsey coll.). Kingston (galls, Q. grisea and Q. Gambelii, Kinsey coll.). Soledad Canyon in Organ Mts. (galls, Q. grisea, L. H. Bridewell in Kinsey coll.). Arizona: Prescott ( Q . grisea, Kinsey coll.). Safford, Oracle, and Bisbee (galls, Q. arizonica, Kinsey coll.). Sabino Trail in Santa Cata- lina Mts. and Santa Rita Mts. (Q. oblongifolia and Q. arizonica, Kinsey coll.). Courtland and Fort Huachuca (Q. arizonica, Kinsey coll.). Probably confined to the desert mountain ranges of New Mexico and Arizona (and adjacent Mexico?). Records based on galls alone may involve confusion with Cynips bella bella. Figure 44. Hillsboro (types, Q. grisea, Kinsey coll.). Kingston (galls, Q. grisea and Q. Gambelii, Kinsey coll.). Soledad Canyon in Organ Mts. (galls, Q. grisea, L. H. Bridewell in Kinsey coll.). Arizona: Prescott ( Q . grisea, Kinsey coll.). Safford, Oracle, and Bisbee (galls, Q. arizonica, Kinsey coll.). Sabino Trail in Santa Catalina Mts. and Santa Rita Mts. (Q. oblongifolia and Q. arizonica, Kinsey coll.). Courtland and Fort Huachuca (Q. arizonica, Kinsey coll.). Probably confined to the desert mountain ranges of New Mexico and Arizona (and adjacent Mexico?). Records based on galls alone may involve confusion with Cynips bella bella. Figure 44.

This variety, with Cynips bella variety bella , produces the common oak apple of our Southwest. Most of the insects had emerged before I collected the galls in New Mexico late in December (1919) and in Arizona in January (1920), but one female emerged at Prescott, Arizona, as late as January 23.

The available insect material represents a wide geographic range and a surprising number of hosts, apparently without the isolation of distinct varieties.

The single, broken insect which I have of this species from Globe, Arizona, does not agree with typical simulatrix, but the specimen does not warrant description. On the basis of data from other cynipids, we might expect a distinct variety of dugesi in the Pinal Mountains near Globe.

- Alfred Charles Kinsey: (1929) The Gall Wasp Genus Cynips^©

Reference: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/53516882#page/284/mode/1up