Paracraspis insolens (Weld, 1926) comb. rev.

Acraspis insolens

Hosts: Quercus chrysolepis

[A photo of the gall appears on page 69 of the pdf]

Gall. (Fig 209). Monolocular, wedge-shaped galls on the underside of leaves. The galls are up to 10 mm long, 5 mm wide and 3 mm thick, concave on the two broad sides, deeply grooved around the edge, nearly the color of the leaf, the flanges often reddish. The larval chamber is located transversely at the apex of the gall and a long cavity runs through the center of the gall from the chamber towards the pedicel (Weld 1926).

Biology. Only the asexual generation is known, inducing galls on Q. chrysolepis. Mature galls are present in September, adults totally formed in November, overwintering in the galls, emerge next spring

Range: CA

Paracraspis insolens (Weld).

Quercus chrysolepis
Leaf galls, separable from leaf intact
Fig 160. Erect on leaf surface.

Fig 160. Q. chrysolepis. Up to 10 mm. long, nearly the color of lead, flanges often reddish, hanging from under surface of leaf in the fall. From galls collected Nov. 6, 1948 adults were cut out Nov. 22 and one was alive in packet on Feb. 6, 1949.

Paracraspis insolens
(Acraspis insolens)*
Cap-gall wasp

Hosts: Quercus chrysolepis

Monothalamous galls of this wasp occur on the ventral leaf surfaces of canyon live oak.

Range: southern Sierra Nevada

Cynips guadaloupensis var insolens
agamic form

Acraspis insolens

Gall. Peculiarly pouch- or wedge-shaped; drawn to a blunt, cylindrical tip at the base, much compressed and concave on two broad sides; the sides with distinct rims, approaching each other basally but well separated apically, well rounded at the apex; up to 10.0 mm. in length, the broad sides up to 5.0 mm. wide and up to 4.0 mm. apart at the apex; the dimensions usually smaller than this; with the larval cell located near the apex of the gall and a large, elongate, cylindrical cavity lying between the cell and the base of the gall; on the under surfaces of leaves of Quercus chrysolepis. Figures 140-141.

RANGE. — California: Idyllwild (Weld; types). San Jacinto Mt. (galls, Kinsey). Not known beyond a single locality in the San Jacinto Mountains, but possibly occurring thruout a southern Californian and Lower Californian area that reaches its northern limit in the San Jacinto Mountains. Figure 27.