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HYMENOPTERA, Cynipidae (Cynipinae) (Cynipoidea) The Cynipinae, or gall wasps, are a large group, and
many species are quite common. They are small to minute, usually black
insects that are distinguished by their shape and wing venation. The abdomen
is oval, compressed, and shining, and the second tergum covers about half or
more of the abdomen. The Cynipinae differ from the Charipinae in that they
are larger and the thorax usually has coarse sculpturing. . Each species of gall maker forms a characteristic gall
in a particular part of a plant, the galls being much more often noticed than
are the insects. Many of the gall wasps form galls on oak. Some galls harbor a single insect, while
many insects develop in others. The inquilines among the gall wasps live in
galls made by some other gall insect. Most of the gall wasps are of little
economic importance, but some of their galls have been used as a source of
tannic acid and others have been used as a source of certain dyes. Many gall wasps have a complex life history with two
different generations a year. The summer generation is spent in one type of
gall, and the wasps, consisting entire of females emerge in autumn. They reproduce parthenogenetically. The
eggs of this generation hatch and develop in a different type of gall, and
the adults that emerge in the early part of the following summer contain both
males and females. Both the adult insects and the galls of these two
generations may be quite different in appearance (Borror et al., 1989). References: Please refer to <biology.ref.htm>, [Additional references
may be found at: MELVYL
Library] Nieves-Aldrey, J.L.; Liljeblad, J.;
Nieves, M.H.; Grez, A.; Nylander, J.A.A. 2009: Revision and phylogenetics of the
genus Paraulax Kieffer (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae) with biological notes
and description of a new tribe, a new genus, and five new species. Zootaxa,
2200: 1-40. Ronquist, F. 1999:
Phylogeny, classification and evolution of the Cynipoidea. Zoologica
scripta, 28: 139-164. |