Andricus perditor

Quercus ilicifolia

Acorn aborted and becomes a gall

Callirhytis perditor (Bass.)

Quercus ilicifolia
Acorn galls
A pip gall in spring on small acorns of previous year, secreting honeydew, dropping when mature.

[Photo caption]
On Q. ilicifolia. Galls collected Oct. 5 1944 gave adults Mar. 21-29, 1946.

Andricus perditor

The galls of this species are 3 to nearly 4 mm. long and 2.5-3 mm. broad. The base is broad, the apex conical, the base with the cicatrix of a true acorn. They occur in among the acorns of Quercus ilicifolia in the Spring of the acorns' second year's growth, at which time the latter are very like these galls in appearance.

Andricus perditor

Inhabiting apparently normal, small acorns or those slightly deformed, on Quercus ilicifolia.

Andricus perditor, n. sp.

The acorns of Q. ilicifolia are, as is well known, two years in reaching maturity. In the Spring of the second year they are still very small, hardly as large as a coriander seed. At this time ants are often seen hurrying about among the young acorns and feeding upon a liquid that exudes from some of the acorns. The affected acorns are really galls--transformed acorns--that differ little in form and color from the unaffected acorns. The larva of a gall-fly lives in each of these pseud acorns. Its larval growth is complete in Spring or early Summer. I have never found them very abundant though they appear quite constantly from year to year.

Callirhytis perditor (Bassett).

Andricus perditor
Acraspis perditor

Like balanosa Weld, this species is described as producing early spring galls which secrete honeydew on immature acorns of the previous season, but on a different host, Quercus ilicifolia instead of on Quercus velutina.

Andricus perditor

The gall of this species is practically nothing more than a deformed acorn of the scrub oak. The eggs are deposited early in spring in the very young acorns of the first year's growth. They are reddish and mature in September and October. When fully developed they turn brown like the color of the acorns.