Andricus tecturnarum [Per the recent 2023 publication re-establishing the genus Feron, all reports of F. tecturnarum from the United States are very likely to actually refer to the new species F. tetyanae, and F. tecturnarum is only known from Mexico presently]

Quercus arizonica, oblongifolia, toumeyi, gambelii, subturbinella [turbinella]
Leaf galls
Detachable
Fig 91. Hairs red, crystalline.

Diplolepis tecturnarum (Kinsey)

Andricus tecturnarum Kinsey [Per the recent 2023 publication re-establishing the genus Feron, all reports of F. tecturnarum from the United States are very likely to actually refer to the new species F. tetyanae, and F. tecturnarum is only known from Mexico presently]

This species was described from an unknown oak from San Luis Potosi, Mexico. The writer found the galls very abundant on Q. undulata at Tijeras, N. Mex., in April, 1918, and again on November 1, 1921 (adults emerging by hundreds February 20 to March 9, 1922). Galls on this oak were seen also in Blue Canyon and Nogal Canyon near Socorro, at Hillsboro and Kingston, in the Burro Mountains and in Arizona at Hackberry and Ashfork (flies emerg- ing February 14). The galls were also very common on Q. grisea at Magdalena, N. Mex., in November, 1921, the flies emerging in large numbers February 20 to March 8. Galls were seen at Williams, Ariz., also. One cluster of the galls was collected on Q. gambelii near Magdalena, flies emerging February 4r-20. At Oracle, Ariz., a few galls occurred on Q. arizonica, adults emerging March 9. Here the galls are hard to distinguish from nubila when seen up in the tree, but in hand the difference in structure is at once apparent. At Las Vegas Hot Springs galls on an unknown oak contained pupae on October 12 and adults emerged January 13, February 20, and March 8. At Shoemaker, Rowe, Glorieta, Tijeras, and Magdalena galls were seen on what may have been Q. fendleri. The galls were also seen at Fierro and in Arizona in the Huachuca and Patagonia Mountains and about Prescott.

Andricus sp. B [Russo links this to Kinsey's Andricus incomptus]
Woolly-leaf-gall wasp
[Page 188]

Hosts: Quercus turbinella, toumeyi, arizonica

These galls have occasionally been misidentified as galls of A tecturnarum, which has tightly pressed hairs, not scraggly and in disarray.

Feron tetyanae Melika sp. nov.

Gall (Fig. 428). Reddish-yellow furry leaf gall mass, a gregarious cluster of individual cells. Hairs covering the gall cluster are quite brittle and crystalline. On underside of leaf, to 20 mm long, projecting from leaf by up to 15 mm.

Biology. Only the asexual generation is only known, which induces galls on Q. arizonica, Q. oblongifolia, Q. turbinella and Q. toumeyi (section Quercus, subsection Leucomexicana) and on Q. gambelii (section Quercus, subsection Dumosae) (Burks 1979). The gall matures in late autumn and adults start emerging the next spring. This species is newly recognized as being distinct from F. tecturnarum (based on both morphology and DNA sequences); all specimens we have examined from previous collectors taken in the USA south-west and identified as F. tecturnarum show the diagnostic characters of F. tetyanae, so we consider that all records of F. tecturnarum from the USA should actually be attributed to the new taxon F. tetyanae.

Distribution. USA: New Mexico, Arizona.