Callirhytis tubicola

Quercus stellata
Leaf galls, detachable
Cluster of yellow tubular galls bearing red spines, erect on under side of leaf in fall, 12 mm. high.

[Photo caption]
On Quercus stellata. Galls stand erect in a group on under side of leaf. Adults May 11-28 the next spring.

Callirhytis tubicola

Cynips tubicola
Andricus texanus, new synonymy

Andricus tubicola

Galls composed apparently of crystalline matter; attached to the leaves
Clustered, tubular

Spined oak tube gall. Tubular leaf gall, length 7 to 10 mm, narrow basally, open apically, yellowish, the surface with numerous red spines, the interior divided by two horizontal partitions, the basal and distal cavities empty, the latter open, on Q obtusiloba [stellata].

Cynips quercus tubicola n. sp.

Host: Quercus obtusiloba [stellata]

Clusters of yellow, tubular galls with red spines, on the underside of the leaves. The gall is a perpendicular tube 0.3 to 0.4 [no unit given] long, slightly narrowed at its point of attachment, open at the other end, yellowish and covered on its outer surface with numerous red spines. If cut open longitudinally, its inside appears divided into three compartments like so many floors, by two horizontal partitions; the compartment nearest to the base is empty, the intermediate one contains the insect and the third one is open at the top.

If the red spines are removed with a knife and the surface of the gall examined under a strong lens, it shows dense longitudinal fibres and numerous little pale yellow crystals. The substance of the gall itself is hard, as if crystalline. From 30 to 40 of these galls are found sometimes on the underside of a single leaf. I frequently found them near Washington, in October and obtained the fly soon afterwards, each tube containing a single fly.