CALLIRHYTIS CARMELENSIS, new species
Host: Quercus agrifolia Nee and Quercus wislizeni A. de Candolle.
Gall: The gall is ellipsoidal, often laterally compressed, measuring 5 by 7 mm. It forms by the side of small acorns (approximately 4 mm in diameter), pushing out between the acorn and its cup, aborting the acorn. When growing in April, the galls are fleshy, greenish, smooth, and secrete honeydew at the apex. They drop in May, and as they harden and shrink, a raised transverse band develops near the basal end, which becomes truncate or excavated. The larval cell inside is large and transversely placed.
Habitat: The type locality is Monterey, California, where galls were collected on Q. agrifolia on August 14, 1916. Flies emerged on March 27, April 10, and April 18, 1918. Galls collected at Los Gatos on May 13, 1918, produced one fly on April 10, 1919, and another on April 11, 1920. Three living flies were cut out on November 7, 1920. Galls collected at Carpinteria on April 29, 1918, yielded flies on March 27 and April 18, 1919. A Q. wislizeni gall collected at Santa Margarita contained a living fly cut out on December 1, indicating transformation occurs in fall, though emergence is not until spring.
Other localities where these galls have been observed on Q. agrifolia include:
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San Gabriel Canyon (San Gabriel Mountains)
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Cahuenga Pass (Santa Monica Mountains)
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Fillmore, Carpinteria, Santa Barbara, Paso Robles, Paraiso Springs, Palo Alto
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Hills back of Berkeley and St. Helena
They have been found on Q. wislizeni at Los Gatos, Mount Tamalpais, St. Helena, and Bagby. All localities are in California.
