''Neuroterus anthracinus'' is a widely distributed
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 gener ...
that forms chemically induced leaf
galls on oak trees. ''N. anthracinus'' has both sexual and
agamic generations and in consequence forms two distinct galls, the oyster gall and April-bud gall.
[Darlington, Page 160]
Synonyms
''Ameristus'' Förster 1869, ''Diplobius'' Kinsey 1923, ''Dolichostrophus'' Ashmead 1887, ''Neospathogaster'' Kinsey 1923, ''Spathegaster'' Hartig 1840, furunculus Beyerinck 1882, ''ostreus'' Giraud 1859, ''ostria'' Hartig 1840, ''Andricus ostreus'', ''Neuroterus schlechtendali'' and ''Andricus furunculus'' are all previous nomenclatures found in the literature.
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]
Galls
![Oyster Gall](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Oyster_Gall.JPG)
The oyster gall is found on the leaf underside, rarely above, and is around 0.3 cm across, located between the midrib and the lateral veins.
It develops under the lower epidermis and when it emerges it has two flaps of valve-like tissue which remain, even after the gall has fallen. The gall has also been recorded as green, brown, pink and even with red spots.
The April-bud gall is of brief duration, the bud swelling and the insect emerging within a week from the smooth and oval 0.8 cm gall, tucked up within the bud scales. The old galls show the escape aperture clearly.
Life cycle
Agamic generation
Emerging in autumn the parthenogenetic female of the agamic generation developed in the unilocular and unilarval bean-shaped structure, which is about 0.8 cm across, known as the 'oyster gall'; they lay eggs within the buds which result in the bisexual generation.
[Stubbs, Page 48]
Sexual generation
The males and females emerge from the unilocular and unilarval April-bud galls in the terminal or axillary buds around May; their fertilised eggs placed in the leaf lamina result in the Oyster gall.
Parasites and inquilines
Several
parasites
Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson ha ...
and
inquiline
In zoology, an inquiline (from Latin ''inquilinus'', "lodger" or "tenant") is an animal that lives commensally in the nest, burrow, or dwelling place of an animal of another species. For example, some organisms such as insects may live in the h ...
s are found in both the sexual and agamic phases.
See also
* ''
Neuroterus quercusbaccarum
The common spangle gall on the underside of leaves and the currant gall on the male catkins or occasionally the leaves, develop as chemically induced distortions on pedunculate oak (''Quercus robur''), or sessile oak (''Quercus petraea'') trees, ...
''
* ''
Neuroterus numismalis''
* ''
Neuroterus albipes
''Neuroterus albipes'' is a gall wasp that forms chemically induced leaf galls on oak trees which has both bisexual and agamic generations and therefore forms two distinct galls, the smooth spangle gall and Schenck's gall.Darlington, Page 162 ' ...
''
*
Oak marble gall
''Andricus kollari'', also known as the marble gall wasp, is a parthenogenetic species of wasp which causes the formation of marble galls on oak trees. Synonyms for the species include ''Cynips kollari'', ''Andricus quercusgemmae'', ''A. minor'' ...
*
Oak apple
Oak apple or oak gall is the common name for a large, round, vaguely apple-like gall commonly found on many species of oak. Oak apples range in size from in diameter and are caused by chemicals injected by the larva of certain kinds of gall ...
*
Oak artichoke gall
Andricus foecundatrix (formerly ''Andricus fecundator'') is a parthenogenetic gall wasp which lays a single egg within a leaf bud, using its ovipositor, to produce a gall known as an oak artichoke gall, oak hop gall, larch-cone gall or hop stro ...
References
;Notes
;Sources
* Darlington, Arnold (1975) ''The Pocket Encyclopaedia of Plant Galls in Colour.'' Pub. Blandford Press. Poole. .
* Stubbs, F. B. Edit. (1986) ''Provisional Keys to British Plant Galls''. Pub. Brit Plant Gall Soc. .
External links
Checklist of Cynipid wasps
{{Taxonbar, from=Q14529693
Cynipidae
Gall-inducing insects
Hymenoptera of Europe
Insects described in 1838
Oak galls
Taxa named by John Curtis