''Amphibolips quercusostensackenii'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

gall wasp Gall wasps, also incorrectly called gallflies, are hymenopterans of the family Cynipidae in the wasp superfamily Cynipoidea. Their common name comes from the galls they induce on plants for larval development. About 1,300 species of this generall ...

in the family

Cynipidae Gall wasps, also incorrectly called gallflies, are hymenopterans of the family Cynipidae in the wasp superfamily Cynipoidea. Their common name comes from the galls they induce on plants for larval development. About 1,300 species of this genera ...

. It is found throughout eastern

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

Description

This species induces globular

galls Galls (from the Latin , 'oak-apple') or ''cecidia'' (from the Greek , anything gushing out) are a kind of swelling growth on the external tissues of plants, fungi, or animals. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues, similar to be ...

on the leaves of members of the red oak group (''Quercus'' sect. ''Lobatae''). These galls are roughly 7 to 9 mm in diameter, and contain a central filament-supported cell where pupation occurs.

Life History

These galls develop in the spring. Adults are described to have emerged from the galls between 8 to 15 July in the

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

area.

Taxonomy

This species was originally placed in the genus ''

Andricus ''Andricus'' is a genus of oak gall wasps in the family Cynipidae. Life cycle As in all Hymenoptera, sex-determination in species of the genus ''Andricus'' is governed by haplodiploidy: males develop from unfertilized eggs and are haploid, an ...

''. However, a 2002 review reclassified it to the closely-related genus '' Amphibolips'' based on the morphology of the adult wasp.

Gallery

File:Amphibolips quercusostensackenii exit hole mosbo6.jpg, Exit hole of the gall created by the adult wasp File:Amphibolips quercusostensackenii gall interior mosbo6.jpg, The interior of the gall, showing the filament-suspended cell in the centre

References

Cynipidae Oak galls Gall-inducing insects Insects described in 1863 Taxa named by Homer Franklin Bassett {{Apocrita-stub