Pseudoneuroterus macropterus ( Hartig, 1843 )

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 : 478

Pseudoneuroterus macropterus ( Hartig, 1843)

Host plants. Israel: Q. ithaburensis . Elsewhere: Several species from section Cerris.

Life history. Prior to the present study, only the asexual generation of this species was known ( Sternlicht 1968b) and the association between it and its sexual generation is established here for the first time. Galls of the asexual generation are multi-chambered stem swellings, 5–60 mm in length, of the same color of the branch ( Fig. 12 in Sternlicht 1968b). The sexual generation develops in small, conical bud galls, up to 2 mm in length, inside the basal part of a bud scale ( Fig. 55 ). The single-chambered gall is green when young, light brown when mature, with thin and delicate walls but harder than the scale itself. The larva occupies the entire volume of the gall.

Phenology. Galls of the sexual generation were found in early February and adults emerged from them later that month. Galls of the asexual generation become evident in summer but no adults were reared from them in the present study. Sternlicht (1968b) reported to have reared adults in February-March or in September-October of the following year.

Distribution. Israel: Sexual generation: Hosha’aya, Alonim, Tiv’on, Hasharon Forest. Asexual generation: Rare, observed only once in the present study in Yehudiyya. Also recorded from Tiv’on (as Neuroterus macropterus ) ( Sternlicht 1968b). Elsewhere: Widespread and locally common from Central Europe to Iran.

Comments. Sternlicht (1968b) attributed the galls of this species to the sexual generation of Neuroterus aprilinus Mayr (his Figs 21–22 ), a species that was later synonymized under Neuroterus politus ( Pujade-Villar & Ros-Farré 2001) . However, the galls we found are ovoid and thin-walled whereas those of N. politus are thickwalled and pointed apically, and our molecular data suggest that this species does not belong in Neuroterus . Instead, these data suggest that adults reared from the sexual generation galls are genetically identical to those of Pseudoneuroterus macropterus (based on sequences in Genbank), and thus represent the sexual generation of that species. Therefore, P. macropterus is now known from galls and adults of both generations.

Figures

FIGURES 11–16. Asexual generation galls on Quercus boissieri. 11. Andricus curtisii; 12. Andricus chodjaii; 13. Andricus quercustozae, young gall; 14. Andricus quercustozae, mature gall; 15. Andricus coriarius, mature gall; 16. Andricus coriarius, old gall.

FIGURES 53–58. Galls on Quercus ithaburensis. 53. Pseudoneuroterus sp. 2, sexual generation; 54. Cerroneuroterus lanuginosus, sexual generation; 55. Pseudoneuroterus macropterus, sexual generation; 56. Pseudoneuroterus sp. 1, sexual generation; 57. Pseudoneuroterus saliens, sexual generation; 58. Pseudoneuroterus saliens, asexual generation.

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.