Andricus moreae ( Graeffe, 1905 )

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 : 466

Andricus moreae ( Graeffe, 1905)

Host plants. Israel: Q. boissieri . Elsewhere: Q. pubescens and Q. infectoria .

Life history. Known only from the bud galls of the asexual generation. These are spherical, single-chambered galls, 10 mm in diameter, resembling a blueberry, with a small apical ‘crown’. They are found on the terminal parts of branches, usually in small clusters, dark green, turning brown and very hard when mature ( Fig. 18 ). Old galls remain on the tree for several years and turn darker. The similarity of this species to host-alternating Andricus species suggests that if a sexual generation exists, it induces galls on oaks from section Cerris (e.g. Q. cerris , Q. brantii , Q. libani ).

Phenology. Galls develop quickly from early to late August and the adults emerge from them in Israel in September-October (elsewhere also in November). In other countries where this species is known, some of the adults overwinter inside the galls and emerge in March of the following year.

Distribution. Israel: Mt. Hermon 1500 and 1780 m.a.s.l., Odem Forest, Allone HaBashan, Mt. Addir. Elsewhere: Geece, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Iran.

Comments. This species has not been collected for many years following its original description and its status was uncertain ( Bellido et al. 2003). However, recently, many galls were found and adults were reared from Greece, Syria and Iran ( Kwast 2005; Azizkhani et al. 2006), as well as during the present study.

The general shape and phenology of these galls resemble those of A. sternlichti ( Fig. 20 ) but A. sternlichti galls are much bigger, pale brown when mature, and have typical pointy protuberances connected by ridges, which are absent in the much smaller and darker brown galls of A. moreae .

Figures

FIGURES 17–22. Galls on Quercus boissieri. 17. Andricus coriariformis, asexual generation; 18. Andricus moreae, asexual generation; 19. Andricus sp. 1, asexual generation; 20. Andricus sternlichti, asexual generation; 21. Andricus megatruncicolus, asexual generation; 22. Biorhiza pallida, sexual generation.