Andricus melikai Pujade-Villar, 2002

Shachar, Einat, Melika, George, Inbar, Moshe & Dorchin, Netta, 2018, The oak gall wasps of Israel (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae, Cynipini) - diversity, distribution and life history, Zootaxa 4521 (4), pp. 451-498 : 465

Andricus melikai Pujade-Villar, 2002

Host plants. Israel: Q. libani . Greece: Q. ithaburensis ssp. macrolepis (= aegilops).

Life history. Known only from the the leaf galls of the sexual generation, which constitute substantial swellings of the leaf midrib and are multi-chambered ( Fig. 68 ). Viable galls were found in June and July but no adults were reared from them.

Phenology. Galls begin to develop in April-May and adults emerged from them in June (in Greece) (Pujade- Villar et al. 2002).

Distribution. Israel: Very rare, found only twice on Mt. Hermon at 1780 m.a.s.l. Otherwise known only from Greece ( Pujade-Villar et al. 2002).

Comments. Galls of this species superficially resemble those of A. istvani from Iran as both species cause multi-chambered leaf swellings on oaks from section Cerris. However, based on a comparison of the galls collected in Israel to those deposited in the PHMB, we concluded that the Israeli species is A. melikai .

Figures

FIGURES 65–70. Galls on various Quercus species. 65. Andricus sp. nr. quercusradicis, sexual generation on leaf of Quercus ithaburensis; 66. Neuroterus anthracinus, asexual generation on Quercus ithaburensis; 67. Andricus multiplicatus, sexual generation on Quercus libani; 68. Andricus melikai, sexual generation on Quercus libani; 69. Andricus sp. nr. amenti, sexual generation on Quercus libani; 70. Cerroneuroterus sp. nr. lanuginosus, asexual generation on Quercus libani.