Callirhytis punctatus Bass

April. Abrupt woody swelling. Quercus rubra, tinctoria [velutina], marylandica, nigra, coccinea, ilicifolia

Callirhytis punctata (O.S.)

Quercus cinereae [incana], coccinea, imbricaria, nigra, palustris, rubra, velutina
Stem galls, woody stem swellings
Oak Knot Gall. Abrupt, completely encircling branch, covered with normal bark. Immature galls cut like cheese.

[Photo caption]
On Q velutina. Also on Q palustris, rubra, imbricaria, cinerea, nigra. Twig beyond gall usually dies and this has been known to kill isolated trees. Adults emerged Apr. 16. The alternating generation is a small blister on main veins about May 12.

Cynips quercus punctata n. sp.

Quercus rubra

A smoothish, club-shaped, woody knot, four inches long, and an inch and a half in diameter at the upper and largest end, completely encircling a branch half an inch in diameter.

This gall was cut from a very young and thrifty oak, April 11th. The flies were then fully grown and began to appear in less than a week. No other galls were noticed at the time, but now (Oct.) there are several of this year's growth,--some larger and others much smaller than the one described. The new galls were fully grown the middle of June, but no larvae could be detected then. The larvae are now, however, well developed.

Callirhytis punctata (Bassett)

Galls were collected at Michigan City, Ind. ; Evanston, IL. ; Pop- lar Bluff, Mo. ; Texarkana, Ark. ; Mineola and Palestine, Tex. S. A. Rohwer collected galls at Ironton, Mo., in October, 1918, from which flies emerged April 16, 1919, The species transforms in the fall as adults have been cut out of galls in December and once as early as September 6. Brodie collected galls at Toronto.

Callirhytis punctata Bassett

Cynips quercus-punctata
Cynips quercus-podagrae
Cynips punctata
Andricus (Callirhytis) punctata
Andricus punctatus

An irregularly spherical, rough, woody gall, constricted at its union with the branch which it usually surrounds. Polythalamous. Color of the branch, but turning almost black with age. Varying greatly in size ; sometimes several are united and masses the size of the fist are formed which impair the appearance of the tree. On black oak, Quercus velutina, and red oak, Q. rubra. Common. Reported on scarlet oak, Q. coccinea.

Andricus punctatus Bass

Shape similar to the preceding gall, but without the horn-like protuberances. Sometimes found singly, but often a number may be seen, in greater or less proximity, on the same branch. On Quercus marilandica, coccinea, and rarely on nana [ilicifolia]. Common.

Andricus punctatus Bass.

Rough, hard, woody, gnarled scaly swellings on red oak limbs and twigs not over inches in diameter, occasionally occur in immense numbers.

This interesting gall insect is ordinarily rare in the vicinity of Albany, if we may base an opinion on the absence of earlier records. The writer’s attention was called by Dr H. M. Pollock, in April 1902, to a red oak at Loudenville near Albany, which was very badly infested with the galls of this species. It will be seen by reference to plate 48, figure 4, that these unnatural growths are irregular swellings along the smaller limbs, ranging in diameter from less than 0.5 to 1.5 inches, depending on the size of the twig. They are of variable length and frequently several coalesce to form an elongated mass of diseased tissue. The galls illustrated were inclosed in a box and produced over 500 insects, some of which were guest flies and a few were probably parasites. These galls were made the basis of an estimate and it was calculated that the entire tree bore 20,000 and produced over 500,000 insects. The general character of the infestation is well shown on plate 47.

This species was reared Ap. 11 by Mr Bassett, from a young, thrifty red oak growing in the vicinity of Waterbury Ct. Its local habit is confirmed by his finding galls only on the one tree. Professor Walsh also described what is probably this same species, under the specific name of podagrae, and he likewise refers to its local habits. Both gentlemen, as well as ourselves, reared large numbers of the insects without obtaining males.

Callirhytis quercuspunctata (Bassett), the gouty oak gall, occurs from southern Canada to North Carolina and west to Illinois. It induces galls (fig. 202) on the twigs and smaller limbs of scarlet, pin, and black oaks. These galls are about 12 to 38 mm long and they frequently occur so close together that they form practically continuous masses. C. quercuspunctata has alternate generations. The first induces small blisterlike galls on the leaves near the veins in the spring. The second induces gouty galls during the summer. In heavy infestations, twigs, fairly large branches, and even entire trees may be killed. Shade trees are especially subject to damage.

Andricus davisi Beutm.

Polythalamous, woody swellings at base of twig, eccentric on twig

Globular, irregular, somewhat elongate, single or clustered, polythalamous oak twig galls; individual galls, diameter 4 to 15 mm, the nutlike masses with a diameter of 40 mm, on Q. nana [ilicifolia].

Andricus punctatus Bass.

Irregular, globose, frequently confluent twig galls, length 10 cm, diameter 3 cm, on Q. nigra, Q. coccinea, rubra, and ilicifolia.

Andricus punctatus

Cynips quercus punctata
Cynips quercus podagrae
Andricus davisi
Holcaspis globulus (error)

Hosts: Quercus ilicifolia, rubra, velutina, coccinea

[The majority of the galls Kinsey discusses here are those of Synergus lignicola affecting Callirhytis quercusgemmaria; he admits in a footnote that he may be "wrong in believing Andricus punctatus to be ever involved."]

Andricus punctatus Bass

Galls rare, but are occasionally found on small limbs of Q. rubra. They vary from one half of an inch to two inches in diameter and are smooth knotty swellings surrounding the limbs much the same as the galls of A. cornigera. From these galls I have reared the guests, Ceroptres petiolicola., Synergus lignicola and an undetermined species; also the parasite Decatoma varians, but no true gall-flies.

Cynips q podagrae n. sp.? (=C q punctata Bassett?) (autumnal)

Black oak [Quercus velutina]

Rough, hard, woody, gnarled and scaly swellings on such twigs and limbs as run from 1/4 to 1 1/2 inch in diameter, never at their tips but often 4 or 5 feet from their tips. Occasionally these swellings are placed at the side of a limb, but more generally they encircle it, enlarging it in an irregular, longitudinally ellipsoidal or egg-like form, so as to double or treble its natural diameter. Frequently several of these swellings run one into the other, so as to form a very elongate tumor with a sinuate outline, thus presenting a fanciful resemblance to a gouty or dropsical limb, whence the specific name. Sometimes when asmall twig is affected the swelling has 7 or 8 times the diameter of the twig, which then ceases to grow beyond the gall and projects from its tip like a tail. Each gall is polythalamous, ie contains numerous cells, connected by woody matter. I have observed three trees in different localities affected by these galls, one so badly that it was almost killed and was probably on that account cut down. As illustrating the local nature of Cynips galls, it may be added that of two exactly similar, isolated, black oaks, growing so close together that their boughs almost touched, one had one-tenth part of its boughs covered by these galls, and the other had not a single gall on it so far as I could discover when it was bare of leaves. The affected limbs and twigs perish before the next season.

Plagiotrochus punctatus Bass
Agamic form, punctatus Bass

Irregular, ovoid, woody twig and branch gall, dia 1-3 cm.

Adults in April.

On Q rubra

Andricus punctatus Bass.

Red oak twigs and small limbs are frequently affected by hard, irregularly rounded swellings from one to two inches in diameter, more or less completely surrounding the twig and often coalesced to form an elongated mass. When very abundant remove and destroy the young galls before the adult gall-wasps emerge.