Druon ignotum is a species of gall wasp in the family Cynipidae.[1]

Druon ignotum
Galls on bur oak
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Cynipidae
Genus: Druon
Species:
D. ignotum
Binomial name
Druon ignotum
(Bassett, 1881)
Synonyms
  • Cynips ignota Bassett, 1881
  • Andricus ignota (Bassett, 1881)
  • Dryophanta ignota (Bassett, 1881)
  • Diplolepis ignota (Bassett, 1881)
  • Rhodites ignota (Bassett, 1881)
  • Andricus ignotus (Bassett, 1881)

Ecology and Life History

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This species is widely distributed in central and eastern North America.[1][2] Larvae induce galls on white oaks, including bur oak, swamp white oak, overcup oak, and post oak.[3]

Like many oak gall wasps, this species has two generations per year - one asexual (or agamic) and one sexual, with each generation producing distinct galls.[2] Galls of the agamic generation are small, ovoid, and occur in clusters along veins on the underside of leaves.[2] They are covered by woolly cream- or pink-colored hair that becomes brown over the winter and sometimes wears away.[2][4] Females emerge from these galls early in spring and oviposit in the buds of host oak trees.[2] This induces the galls of the sexual generation, which are small ovoid cells within buds and young shoots; they cause little or no externally visible deformity.[2] Both male and female adult wasps emerge from these galls and mate, with mated females then ovipositing on the underside of oak leaves, inducing the galls of the agamic generation.[2]

Taxonomy

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This species was first described by Homer Franklin Bassett as Cynips ignota in 1881 and has been included in various genera before its recent placement in Druon.[5][2]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Druon ignotum". iNaturalist. California Academy of Sciences.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Víctor Cuesta-Porta; George Melika; James A. Nicholls; Graham N. 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". Zootaxa. 5132 (1): 1–92. doi:10.11646/ZOOTAXA.5132.1.1. ISSN 1175-5334. Wikidata Q113019861.
  3. ^ "Druon ignotum (agamic)". Gallformers.
  4. ^ Ephraim Porter Felt (1940). Plant galls and gall makers. Comstock Publishing Company. p. 225.
  5. ^ H.F. Bassett (May 1881). "New Cynipidae". The Canadian Entomologist. 13 (05): 92–113. doi:10.4039/ENT1392-5. ISSN 0008-347X. Wikidata Q54800741.
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