Andricus quercuslanigera (sexgen)

Cynipidae

Druon

Quercus fusiformis

Oklahoma

Texas

Quercus geminata

Alabama

Florida

Georgia

Louisiana

Mississippi

North Carolina

South Carolina

Quercus minima

Quercus oleoides

Quercus virginiana

Arizona

California

New Mexico

Virginia

‘Closing the life cycle’ of Andricus quercuslanigera (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae)

Druon quercuslanigerum (sexgen)

Andricus quercuslanigera
Sexual generation

[Hosts] The gall wasp is native to four live oak species in the subsection Virentes along the Gulf Coast of the southern United States and Mexico: Quercus virginiana, Quercus geminata, Quercus fusiformis, and Quercus oleoides. There are two other live oak spe- cies from which we do not know if the gall wasp has been found: Quercus sagraena (native to Cuba) and Quercus brandegeei (native to southern Baja, Mexico).

[Range] A. quercuslanigera has been documented on non-native, transplanted Q. virginiana in San Joaquin County, CA (Pujade-Villar et al. 2016) and the University of California–Davis Arboretum, Yolo County, CA (S.P.E., personal observation). There are other descriptions of specimens from various host associations that have been morphologically identified as A. quercuslanigera that may require further genetic analysis to solidify species identity. These include A. quercuslanigera potentially found on the netleaf oak, Q. rugosa, in a native portion of its range distributed throughout the temperate highlands of central Mexico (Serrano-Munoz et al. 2016). Q. rugosa also exists in small disjunct populations throughout south-central Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and southwestern Texas (Little 1999), but the gall former has yet to be documented here. Furthermore, A. quercuslanigera has been reported to have shifted from native oak, Q. oleoides, to form galls on nursery live oak, Q. virginiana (native to southeastern United States and Texas), and pin oak, Q. palustris (native to the mid-western United States) in Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon, Mexico, where it is classified as a pest species (Pujade-Villar et al. 2016).

[Gall] Formed on catkins in the spring during host plant bud break (Fig. 1J–L). Small (~1 mm) swelling of the central stem of the catkin, with gall shape similar to a grain of rice, or ovate. Surface gall indistinct from the rest of the central stem of catkin except for swelling (Fig. 1M–P).

[Phenology] The mean date of emergence for the sexual generation was 26 March (±1 d), with the range of emergence spanning a 2-wk period from 23 March to 9 April (n = 94) (Fig. 3). 

Coinciding with spring leaf flush in mid-March to early April, the sexual generation, emerging from catkin galls (Fig. 4A), lay eggs into the lateral veins on the underside of newly flushed leaves (Fig. 4B). The fuzzy galls develop from mid- to late summer through the fall and winter (Fig. 4C and D), and asexual females emerge as adults beginning as early as September continuing through late February the following year (Fig. 4E) coinciding with catkin bud production. At that time, females oviposit into the unopened or newly opened bud of catkins (Fig. 4F). Galls on catkins grow rapidly in the spring, just as the catkins themselves do, with sexual adults emerging just weeks after asexual females initiate gall growth. Immediately following sexual generation adult emergence, males and females mate, and females oviposit into the newly growing leaves (Fig. 4E). The life history timing of each generation differs drastically (approximately 11 to 11(1/2) mo for the asexual generation and 2–4 wk for the sexual generation from oviposition to adult emergence).

Druon quercuslanigerum (Ashmead, 1881), comb. nov. 

Cynips q.lanigera Ashmead, 1881: xiii, female, gall. 
Andricus (Andricus) lanigera Ashmead, 1885: 295 [unjustified emendation].
Andricus laniger (Ashmead): Weld, 1951: 634.
Andricus quercuslanigera (Ashmead): Burks, 1979: 1088. 

Gall. Sexual generation galls. Small, on average 1 mm, swelling of the central stem of catkins, with gall shape similar to a grain of rice, or ovate. Surface of gall indistinct from the rest of the central stem of catkin except for swelling (Hood et al. 2018). 

Biology. Alternate asexual and sexual generations are known. The asexual leaf galls (also rarely on twigs) develop in autumn and winter, sexual galls on catkins in spring (Hood et al. 2018); both generations develop on Q. minima and Q. virginiana and asexual galls have also been found on Q. fusiformis, Q. geminata, Q. oleoides (all Section Virentes). 

Distribution. USA: Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Missouri, Louisiana, Texas, and Mexico: Hidalgo. Also introduced with its host plant Q. virginiana in California (Stockton) and Chihuahua (Chihuahua City). 

Re-establishment of the Nearctic oak cynipid gall wasp genus Druon Kinsey, 1937 (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini), with description of five new species