Belonocnema quercusvirens

Cynipidae

Belonocnema

Quercus geminata

Alabama

Florida

Georgia

Louisiana

Mississippi

North Carolina

South Carolina

Quercus minima

Belonocnema fossoria (agamic)

Cynips q. virens n. sp.

Quercus virens [Quercus virginiana]

Galls.--Small, globular, the size of a pea or slightly larger; from two to ten, attached to the underside of the leaf; pale brownish in color, filled inside with a dense, yellowish-brown, spongy, cellular mass. A single kernel in the centre. Diameter 0.15 to 0.25 inch. 

Issued from the gall early in February.

[Weld cites this as the original description of his Disholcaspis virens, but it does not match his description (a stem gall) and seems to instead describe what was later renamed Belonocnema quercusvirens, which is now a species inquirenda likely referring to Belonocnema fossoria.]

On the CYNIPIDOUS GALLS of Florida (1881)

Belonocnema fossoria, new species

Cynips q virens Osten Sacken gall only
Andricus virens Ashmead
Andricus quercus-virens Ashmead

Host. — Quercus geminata Small, and Quercus virginiana Miller. 

Gall. — Globular, hard, tan-colored galls occurring in numbers on the under side of the leaf. Monothalamous, 4-6 mm. in diameter, of dense cellular tissue. 

Habitat. — The type material is from galls collected at Clearwater, Florida, November 7, 1919, on geminata and sent in as Hopkins U. S. No. 15634 f . Flies issued December 8. Three paratypes from Jacksonville are probably from virginiana. The writer has seen galls at Jacksonville, Daytona, Tallahassee, and Gainesville on virginiana and on geminata at St. Petersburg and Daytona Beach. Dr. J. C. Bradley has collected galls at St. Simon's Island, Georgia.

American gallflies of the family Cynipidae producing subterranean galls on oak

Belonocnema fossoria

Quercus virginiana, geminata
Leaf galls, detachable
Tan, smooth, globular galls on under side of leaf in numbers in the fall.

[Weld's photo for this species shows Belonocnema treatae (or possibly kinseyi? location not specified) on Q virginiana]

Cynipid galls of the eastern United States

Belonocnema quercusvirens (Osten Sacken 1861) 

Hosts: Quercus geminata, minima

[Asexual generation galls found on leaves in the fall]

Belonocnema treatae (Mayr 1881) [according to Zhang, based on hosts given, this must be B fossoria, not treatae]

Hosts: Quercus geminata, minima

[Asexual generation galls found on leaves in the fall]


Using gall wasps on oaks to test broad ecological concepts

Belonocnema fossoria, Weld 1921 Rev. Stat.

Belonocnema quercusvirens, Burks, 1979 [species inquirenda]

Host plant: Quercus geminata

Gall: Smooth, single-chambered pea galls (5.88–6.45mm in diameter) on the ventral side of leaves

Distribution: GA, FL

[See paper for photos of the galls]

One hundred and sixty years of taxonomic confusion resolved: Belonocnema (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini) gall wasps associated with live oaks in the USA