Melikaiella fructuosa comb. n.

Callirhytis fructuosa

[Weld's photo is reproduced but no new images are included.]

Only the asexual generation is known to induce acorn galls on red oaks (Q. rubra Linnaeus, Q. coccinea Muenchhausen and Q. texana Buckley). It is distributed in USA (Weld, 1922b; Burks, 1979). The galls are stony mass of cells inside the acorn, more or less filling the interior and encroaching upon or obliterating the cotyledons (Fig. 15f). Galls occur in autumn and adults emerge in late April and May (Weld, 1922b); galls from Q. coccinea have emerged in 1st and 3rd year after collecting (Weld, 1922b).

Range: NY, MD, VA, NC, SC, GA, AL, IL, MO, TX

Callirhytis fructuosa

Quercus coccinea, falcata, ilicifolia, marilandica, palustris, rubra, texana [buckleyi], velutina
Acorn galls
A stony-hard, many-celled mass inside mature acorns in the fall, crowding the cotyledons.

[Photo caption]
On Q coccinea. Also on Q velutina, rubra, palustris, marilandica, ilicifolia, falcata, texana [buckleyi]. In August the red squirrels cut open the affected acorns for the well-developed larvae. From acorns of Q marilandica from Batesburg SC another Callirhytis emerged the second spring Apr 17-May 3.