Andricus chodjaii Melika, 2008

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 : 461

Andricus chodjaii Melika, 2008

Host plants. Israel: Q. boissieri ; Turkey and Iran: Q. infectoria .

Life history. Known only from the bud galls of the asexual generation. The gall develops on the acorn-cup, is ellipsoid, multi-chambered, up to 20 mm in diameter, and covered by short spines of up to 3 mm in length ( Fig. 12 ). The gall turns from green to white as it matures, at which point the spines are easily detached from it, leaving purple dots behind.

Phenology. Galls become visible from mid-August and adults emerge in November-December ( Tavakoli et al. 2008). Some galls drop from the tree and the wasps complete their development in them on the ground.

Distribution. Israel: Rare, found only in Allone HaBashan. Elsewhere: Iran and Turkey.

Comments. Galls of this species are somewhat similar to galls of the asexual generation of A. lucidus ( Fig. 5 ), but A. lucidus galls have numerous longer spines, are green and covered by sticky resin, whereas galls of A. chodjaii are not sticky. This gall is hardly distinguishable from that of A. seckendorffi (Wachtl) , which is known from Europe and Turkey, and where these species occur together they can be distinguished from each other only on the basis of adult morphology ( Tavakoli et al. 2008).

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 5–10. Galls on Quercus boissieri. 5. Andricus lucidus, asexual generation (arrow) and Andricus moreae, asexual generation (bottom); 6. Andricus cecconii, asexual generation; 7. Andricus caputmedusae, asexual generation, young gall; 8. Andricus caputmedusae, asexual generation, mature gall; 9. Andricus grossulariae, asexual generation; 10. Andricus hystrix, asexual generation.