Neuroterus vernus var. bassettii

Neuroterus pallidipes

Neuroterus pallipes

Cynipidae

Neuroterus

Quercus alba

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The Gall Wasp Genus Neuroterus

Neuroterus bassettii (sexgen)

Neuroterus pallipes n. sp. 

Galls small, monothalamous, variously situated on the stem and principal veins of very young white oak leaves, dwarfing and distorting them, and densely covered and often nearly hidden in their pubescence. They are oval, thin walled, and only large enough to contain the larva of the small gall-fly. I have forty male and female insects of this species, but there is only one, a female, whose antennae remains unbroken. 

The insects differ materially from N. utricula Bass., though the galls resemble those quite nearly. 

New Species of North American Cynipidae (1890)

Neuroterus pallipes

White oak

Leaf galls
small, hairy on stem or midrib

Insects affecting park and woodland trees

Neuroterus pallipes Bassett

Neuroterus bassetti
Neuroterus pallidipes

Gall. On the midrib or principal veins of the leaves of white oak (Quercus alba) in May. Monothalamous. Small, oval, thin-walled swellings covered with a dense brownish pubescence. The affected leaves become distorted and dwarfed.

Habitat: MA, NY, NJ

The North American Species of Neuroterus and their Galls

Neuroterus pallipes

[this species occurs twice, in different places in the key]

Galls of the leaves (in some cases the leaf itself is aborted and the gall issues from the twig or bud)
Gall a swelling of the midvein or sometimes of the petiole
Less abrupt and localized enlargements of midveins (more rarely of lateral veins and the petiole)
Oval, thin-walled, monothalamous vein swellings covered with a dense, brown pubescence, on Q alba

Small, thin-walled, globose or fusiform galls, usually marginal, on the leaf and piercing the lamina
Oval, thin-walled, monothalamous vein swellings covered with a dense, brown pubescence, on Q alba

Key to American Insect Galls

Neuroterus vernus variety bassettii bisexual form

Neuroterus pallipes
Neuroterus bassettii
Neuroterus pallidipes

Gall.--Small, slight, one-celled swellings, usually covered with a rather thick, ragged pubesence; on petioles and veins, dwarfing the leaves of Q alba.

Range.--MA, NY, NJ

This insect comes very close to being a synonym of exiguus, the slightly larger areolet and the host being the only good characters for distinguishing bassettii. I have seen a paratype female, and males from the type locality, host, and collector. This American Museum material is dated June 2; Beutenmuller says the galls are to be found in May. Probably other tissues are affected, and other forms of galls produced, as well as those now described. The name pallipes which Bassett first applied to this insect is preoccupied by Neuroterus pallipes Schenck, 1862, and Dalla Torre substituted the name bassettii for our insect. In doing so he referred to the Bassett insect as pallidipes, by mistake. It is true that the Schenck insect is not a Neuroterus, but as long as pallipes had ever been previously published in combination with Neuroterus, that name is unavailable for any other insect. Beutenmuller and subsequent authors are in error in considering pallipes still available for Bassett’s insect. 

Neuroterus bassettii

Quercus alba
Leaf galls, detachable
Oval, thin-walled, nearly hidden by pubescence, on very young leaves dwarfing and distorting them. CT. Entered from lit.

Quercus alba
Leaf galls, integral
See above under detachable galls.

[Photo caption (no photo)]
On Q alba. Types are from MA where the adults emerged June 2. They emerged May 25 when the young leaves were one to two inches long (DC).

Cynipid galls of the eastern United States