Antron quercusnubila (Bassett, 1881), sexual generation

Synonyms: Cynips quercusnubila Bassett (1881b: 56), females and galls. Dryophanta nubila combination and corrected spelling by Mayr (1881); Dryophanta nubila combination by Ashmead (1885: 296); Diplolepis quercus-nubila combination by Dalla Torre and Kieffer (1910); Cynips nubila combination by Cresson (1923); Diplolepis nubila combination by Weld (1926); Cynips (Acraspis) nubila var. nubila combination by Kinsey (1930); Antron nubila combination by Weld (1951); Antron quercusnubila corrected spelling by Burks (1979). Kinsey (1930, 1936, 1938) included 10 additional species in his “nubila” complex, found on a range of Mexican oaks: Cynips (Acraspis) chica Kinsey 1936; Cynips (Acraspis) incompta (Kinsey, 1920); Cynips (Acraspis) nigricula Kinsey, 1936; Cynips (Acraspis) radialis Kinsey, 1936; Cynips (Acraspis) rufula Kinsey, 1936; Cynips (Acraspis) russa Kinsey, 1930; Cynips (Acraspis) subtincta Kinsey, 1936; Cynips (Acraspis) tincta Kinsey, 1936, Cynips (nubila) lanaris Kinsey, 1938 and Cynips (nubila) molucrum Kinsey, 1938.

Cynips (Acraspis) russa Kinsey, 1930, syn. nov.. Kinsey (1930) originally used the species name Cynips nubila russa and mentioned that he found the female to be indistinguishable from the female of C. nubila. The galls are also identical to those of A. quercusnubila and the two taxa share the same host oaks (Q. arizonica, Q. oblongifolia) and geographic distribution (Arizona, Santa Catalina Mnt., from Tucson to Globe). Later, Kinsey (1936) put Cynips nubila russa into the genus Cynips subgenus Acraspis, nubila complex, named as Cynips (nubila) russa. Weld (1952a) treated it as Cynips nubila russa Kinsey. Weld (1960) in his Cynipid Galls of the Southwest listed only Antron nubila, and did not even mention A. russa. In Burks (1979) it is a valid species, Antron russum (Kinsey, 1930). The other nine species of Kinsey’s Cynips nubila complex, all occurring in Mexico, are considered valid species by Pujade-Villar & Ferrer-Suay (2015).

Biology. Asexual galls (Fig. 79) develop on leaves, sexual galls in lenticel buds; both generations on Q. arizonica, Q. rugosa and Q. oblongifolia.

Distribution. USA: Arizona (Burks 1979).

- James Nicholls, George Melika, Scott Digweed, Graham Stone: (2022) Pairing of sexual and asexual generations of Nearctic oak gallwasps, with new synonyms and new species names (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae, Cynipini)^©