Druon quercusflocci (Walsh, 1864), comb. nov.

? Cynips Quercus-lana Fitch, 1859: 814, adult, galls (see comments)
Cynips quercus flocci Walsh, 1864: 482, female, gall.
Cynips (Andricus?) flocci Osten Sacken, 1865: 352.
Andricus flocci (Walsh): Mayr, 1881: 28.
Andricus quercusflocci (Walsh): Burks, 1979: 1087

Gall. (Fig. 150). Woolly, dirty white to pinkish pubescent galls, 10–12 mm long, 8.0–8.5 mm broad and 4–5
mm high, containing 2–10 seed-like larval chambers attached at one end to the midrib on the upper or lower side of the leaf; the cluster of galls is usually elongated along the direction of the leaf midrib. The larval cells are distinct individually, rather than fused into a single mass, 0.2–1.0 mm in diameter, and covered with short crystalline hairs.

Biology. Only an asexual generation is only known, which induces leaf galls on Q. alba (Section Quercus,
Series Albae) in autumn.

Distribution. USA: Massachusetts to North Carolina, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas (Burks 1979).

Comments. Fitch (1859) described a similar gall named Cynips Quercus-lana but the adults he reared are
cynipid inquilines belonging to Synergus according to keys in Cresson (1887) and Lobato-Vila & Pujade-Villar (2021). The galls are indistinguishable from other similar galls, and we cannot determine whether this gall corresponds to Andricus (now Druon) quercusflocci. Dalla Torre & Kieffer (1910: 544) nevertheless considered Andricus quercusflocci to be a possible junior synonym of Andricus quercuslana. The specific name ‘quercuslana’ corresponds to a Synergus species, leaving the gall described by Fitch (1859) as unidentifiable (?Cynips quercuslana Fitch, 1859).

- Victor Cuesta-Porta, George Melika, James Nicholls, Graham Stone, Juli Pujade-Villar: (2022) Re-establishment of the Nearctic oak cynipid gall wasp genus Druon Kinsey, 1937 (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini), with description of five new species^©