Amphibolips fusus

[A photo of this gall appears on page 39 of the pdf]

Galls of A. fusus greatly differ from the galls of the other mentioned species. However, galls most closely resemble galls of A. durangensis, but differ by the smooth and even surface in A. fusus (with transversal ridges in A. durangensis), and both the peduncle and apical tip narrow gradually in A. fusus (peduncle and apical tip highly narrowed into acicular projections in A. durangensis).

Gall (Fig. 14E). Monolocular bud gall. Fusiform, 9–13 mm in diameter, with a peduncle and a fine tip. Outer shell thick, hard, light brown when mature, with smooth glabrous surface, without mottled surface. Internal tissue relatively soft and spongy; made up of dense irradiating fibers visible only at the base and apex; dense and compact at the central body of the gall where the space is mostly occupied by the larval chamber. Central, oval larval chamber (5.0–6.0 mm) relatively hard-walled.

Hosts. Quercus eduardi (original description) and new records on Q. crassipes and Q. laurina here.

Biology. Only females are known. The mature galls were collected in early June; adults were extracted dead in November (according to the original description); no adults were found in the newly collected galls.

Distribution. México: Ciudad de México, and Zacatecas states.

Remarks. Kinsey’s original description states that this species has POL 1.3x as long as OOL. Despite being true in the holotype, POL is equal to OOL in the new specimens that were reared from similar galls, on the same host plant. We attribute this difference to the intraspecific variability considering that no additional differences were detected. Nieves-Aldrey et al. (2012) differentiated this species based on the forewing colouration and F1 being 1.2x as long as F2. These characters became inaccurate to discriminate A. fusus, due to the discovery of additional species, described in this paper, possessing the same character states: A. cibriani Pujade-Villar 2018, A. bassae n. sp. and A. bromus n. sp. (see above)

Amphibolips fusus Kinsey, 1937

[A photo of the gall appears on page 14 of the pdf]

[Gall: Monothalamous resulting from the deformation of a bud. Fusiform (9-13 mm in diameter), with a peduncle and a sharp point at the apex (resulting in a total length of 25-35 mm). Exterior wall thick and tough, light brown in color at maturity, with a smooth and glabrous surface (see comments). The internal tissue is relatively soft and spongy, composed of very dense radiating fibers, only visible at the base and the apex, dense and compact (but spongy) in the wide part of the gall where the larval chamber is found surrounded by a thin layer of spongy tissue. Central ovate larval chamber with relatively hard walls, and with its greatest length between 5-6 mm.]

Hosts: Quercus eduardi, crassipes, laurina

[Biology: Species known only from females. The mature galls were collected at the beginning of June. The two adults used for the description of the species were extracted dead from the gall in November; the only adult from Santa Fe emerged in July of 2014.]

[Range: Mexico City, Zacatecas]

[Comments: The maximum dimensions of the diameter of the gall are greater in the original description. After studying galls of A fusus collected by Kinsey and the type material, we deduce that this fact is erroneous. On the other hand, Kinsey mentions that on the surface of the gall there are small black protuberances that probably correspond to fungal pycnidia, abundant on the surfaces of old galls.]

Quercus emoryi, hypoleuca [hypoleucoides]
Bud galls
Fusiform, 18-26 mm long by 9-13 mm in dia, in leaf axil. Fig 132.

Amphibolips fusus

[Photos of the gall appear on page 12 of the pdf]

Amphibolips fusus, n. sp.

Gall. — A slender to globose, spindle-shaped oak apple, - with tip and base quite fine, with greatest diameter near middle of gall, up to 35. mm,, averaging nearer 30. mm. in length, up to 25. mm., averaging nearer 10, mm. in diameter. The outer shell weathering dirty brown or darker in color, probably green, rosy, and straw when fresh; smooth and naked except for minute, raised, black specks and splotches which are fairly abundant over whole gall; internally very dense (hardly spongy), quite solid except for the larval cell; 1 completely separable, borne on twigs.

Host. - Quercus eduardi, the shining, prickly-leaved black oak of the area, a close relative of the American Q. Emoryi.

Range. — Zacatecas: Cantuna, 6 N, 6700’ (types). Zacatecas, 25 SW. La Mesa, 7000' (gall). Probably restricted to a central portion of the Western Sierra of Mexico, including the state of Zacatecas.

Life History- — Unknown. All live adults (bisexual or agamic?) were emerged from galls found in November. All of the adults which we have of this species were dead and cut from old galls gathered in November. Whether these were remnants of a spring-emerging, bisexual generation, remnants of a just-emerged, fall, agamic generation — or. indeed, whether there is any alternation of generations at all in these southern species of the genus, it seems impossible to determine on the basis of the scant material now available

Amphibolips fusus
Spindle-gall wasp

Hosts: Quercus emoryi, hypoleucoides

The long, monothalamous stem galls of this wasp are spindle-shaped, glabrous, and quite large, with some exceeding 35 mm in length and 10 mm in width.

Amphibolips fusus Kinsey

Distribution: Zacatecas: Cantuna

Host: Quercus eduardi

Gall. A slender to globose, spindle-shaped oak apple, with the tip and base quite fine. A photograph of the gall was provided in Melika et al. (2011).

Life history. Unknown; only females reared from galls in November.

Comments This species was regarded by Melika et al. (2011) as very similar to A. zacatecaensis. However, the forewing patterns of the two species are quite different, which is a character that seems to be mistaken or overlooked by that authors. According to the coloration pattern of the forewing and shape of the gall, we consider this species to be more closely allied with the Panamanian species A. aliciae Medianero & Nieves-Aldrey 2010. One female that we reared from a globose, apically pointed gall collected in Nuevo León presented a similar forewing pattern (Fig. 21B) and could be identified as A. fusus, or more likely, a different closely allied species because of slight differences in the forewing patterns (Fig. 12F). However, other morphological characters are not well differentiated in this specimen, and it is not possible to come to a conclusion regarding its taxonomic status. We also collected galls similar to those of A. fusus in Monterrey and Nuevo León (Figs. 20E, 20F), but we unfortunately did not rear any adults from these galls.