Neuroterus valhalla, sp. nov.
Asexual generation

Gall: Cryptic gall in nodes of branches, often found adjacent to leaf scars and side branches, monothalamous, no longer than 2.8 mm (Figure 3d,e).

The stem node (asexual) generation wasp (Figures 1C and 3a) develops over the course of approximately 11 months within minute crypt galls found on the stem nodes (Figures 1E and 3f1), from which it will emerge in synchrony with the host’s flowering phenology, typically during February (Figure 4). They will live as adults for approximately 2 days, as determined by lab rearing, only to find and oviposit in developing catkin buds (Figure 3b), where minute golden oval galls will develop (Figures 1B and 3c1). The catkin (sexual) generation wasps (Figures 1A and 3d) will then swiftly develop over the course of about 3 weeks within these gall structures and emerge in March (Figure 4). Upon emergence, adults live for approximately 2 days, possibly mate (if males are confirmed in the future), and oviposit into stem nodes near a leaf insertion (Figures 1D and 3e), completing the cycle.

Host: The population studied here uses Q. virginiana as its host. Additionally, we have incidentally collected two adult N. valhalla individuals emerging from Quercus geminata (Weinersmith et al., 2020), which were confirmed to be the same lineage (Figure 2).

Distribution: Confirmed in southeast Texas (Harris county) and the panhandle of Florida (Walton county). Most likely, extending to match much of the distribution of its host plants, Q. geminata and Q. virginiana, across the coastal southeastern United States, and potentially throughout the range of American live oaks in the subsection Virentes.

- Pedro FP Brandao-Dias, Yuanmeng Miles Zhang, Stacy Pirro, Camila Vinson, Kelly Weinersmith, Anna KG Ward, Andrew A Forbes, Scott Egan: (2022) Describing biodiversity in the genomics era: A new species of Nearctic Cynipidae gall wasp and its genome^©