Cerroneuroterus, Melika & Pujade-Villar, 2010

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 : 472

Cerroneuroterus sp. nr. lanuginosus ( Giraud, 1859)

Host plants. Q. libani , Q. cerris .

Life history. Known only from the leaf galls of the asexual generation, which are flat, spherical, up to 5 mm thick and 7 mm in diameter, covered by long, whitish or pinkish to golden hairs with a black center of shorter hairs, usually in clusters ( Fig. 70 ).

Phenology. Galls begin to develop in August, drop to the ground in the fall, and the larvae overwinter in them on the ground. No adults were reared.

Distribution. Israel: Mt. Hermon 1500 and 1780 m.a.s.l., Mt. Kahal.

Comments. The galls of this species are very similar to those of C. lanuginosus on Q. ithaburensis ( Figs 60– 61 ) but their hairs are pinkish to golden as opposed to the white hairs on C. lanuginosus galls. As no adulsts were reared it was impossible to determine whether the galls on Q. libani belong to C. lanuginosus or belong to a different species. Somewhat similar galls are induced by an unidentified cecidomyiid species on the same host plant but these have brownish hairs and are evident as rigid tubercles on the upperside of the leaf, whereas galls of Cerroneuroterus nr. lanuginosus are evident only on the underside of the leaf.

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.

FIGURES 59–64. Galls on Quercus ithaburensis. 59. Chilaspis israeli, asexual generation; 60–61. Cerroneuroterus lanuginosus, asexual generation; 62. Cerroneuroterus gyulaigaraiae, asexual generation; 63. Andricus sp. nr. istvani, sexual generation; 64. Dryocosmus mikoi, sexual generation.