Amphibolips hidalgoensis Pujade-Villar & Melika, 2011
Amphibolips hidalgoensis Pujade-Villar & Melika, In Melika et al. (2011: 53)

Gall (Figs. 2e-f). Unilocular resulting from the deformation of a bud. Generally large (30-65 mm in diameter), subglobose, sometimes with a fine, short tip at the apex. The outer wall is thin and fragile, pink when young and light brown when mature, with a smooth and glabrous surface. The internal tissue is relatively soft and spongy, formed by dense and compact radiating fibers. The central ovate larval chamber has hard walls, with a larger diameter between 5.0–6.5 mm.

Hosts. Quercus calophylla, Q. crassifolia, Q. crassipes, and Q. mexicana (Lobatae section).

Biology. Species known only for the asexual generation. Mature galls are collected from late May to early June, and adults emerge shortly after collection.

Distribution. Cited from the states of Hidalgo and Tlaxcala (according to the original description) and from Mexico City (including Sta. Fe on Q. crassipes and Q. calophylla), Cuesta-Porta et al. (2020b).

Amphibolips hidalgoensis Pujade-Villar & Melika, new species

[Photos of this gall appear on page 6 of the pdf]

Gall (Figs 18–20). A large, globose oak bud gall, with greatest diameter up to 6.5 cm. The gall is very thinwalled, light brown when mature, with smooth and naked surface; with spongy-like parenchyma and radiating filaments supporting the central, hard-walled ovate larval chamber, with largest length 5.0–6.5 mm

Biology. Only females are known, inducing galls on Quercus crassipes Humb. & Bonpl. and Q. crassifolia Humb. & Bonpl., which are distributed in Mexico and Guatemala, and Q. candicans Humb., an endemic oak species to Mexico (all in Section Lobatae of Quercus, red oaks) (Govaerts & Frodin 1998, Pujade-Villar et al. 2009). The mature galls were collected in early June and adult wasps emerged soon after field collection.

Distribution. Currently known from Mexico: Hidalgo State, Acoxachitlan, Barrio de Tlacpac and Los Romeros; San Marcos, Tlaxcala.

Comments. This may represent the asexual generation [we reared about 50 females and no males emerged from the collected galls]. This is the first gallwasp species reared from Quercus crassipes (Pujade-Villar et al. 2009)

Amphibolips hidalgoensis Pujade-Villar & Melika 2011

Distribution: Hidalgo state

[Photos of this gall appear on page 36 of the pdf]

Gall (Figs 18A, 18B). Spherical, diameter up to 6.5 cm, thin walled, with a smooth and naked surface a with soft, spongious parenchyma and radiating filaments supporting the single central larval cell (Melika et al. 2011).

Host: Quercus crassipes and Q. crassifolia

Life history. Only females are known. According Melika et al. (2011), they may represent the asexual generation

Amphibolips malinche sp. nov.

Gall (Figs 19C, 19D). A globular, irregular oak apple gall. Monothalamic; outer shell thin and internally exhibiting a spongy consistency, filling the entire gall. Found on twigs of Quercus mexicana.

Distribution. A. malinche was found at 2800 m a.s.l. at La Malinche volcano, Tlaxcala state, Mexico.

Biology. Presumably a sexual generation, but males were not reared. The galls were collected in late June, and the insects emerged in July.

Amphibolips hidalgoensis

[Photos of this gall appear on page 43 of the pdf]

This species closely resembles A. tarasco. Galls of both species are subglobose bud galls, but A. hidalgoensis has galls with a thin, uniformly coloured outer shell and soft spongious internal tissue, while galls of A. tarasco have a mottled surface and outer shell and internal spongious tissue that is rather hard (Figs 16H–I). The gall is similar to other species with a large globular shape without a mottled surface; it is not differentiable from A. michoacaensis and A. jaliscensis, but differs from A. quercuspomiformis comb. nov., A. oaxacae, A. tarasco, A. kinseyi n. sp. and A. bassae n. sp. by having a deformable surface under applied finger pressure, because the parenchyma is relatively soft in A. hidalgoensis, A. jaliscensis and A. michoacaensis.

Gall (Figs 15A–B). Usually large, subglobose, detachable bud galls, sometimes with fine tip at apex. Maximum diameter 30–65 mm. Outer shell thin and fragile; internal tissue spongious and soft with central larval chamber about 5 mm in diameter.

Hosts. Quercus acutifolia, Q. calophylla, Q. castanea, Q. crassifolia, Q. crassipes, Q. mexicana.

Biology. Only females are known. We consider this species to be an asexual form as we have never obtained males after the emerging of more than 100 females from different localities. The mature galls were collected in late May to early June; most adults emerged soon after field collection, some were reared in November.

Distribution. Mexico: Hidalgo, Mexico and Tlaxcala states.

Remarks. After the examination of A. malinche types, we found great similarities between this species and A. hidalgoensis. Furthermore, the galls of both species are identical. Amphibolips malinche were sampled in the state of Tlaxcala and numerous specimens of A. hidalgoensis were collected 30 km away from the location of the two known specimens of A. malinche. The two specimens of A. malinche reared from galls of Q. mexicana, which shares distribution with the rest of host plant species (Q. calophylla, Q. crassifolia and Q. crassipes) in the states of Ciudad de México, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, México, Oaxaca, Puebla, Querétaro. This species is currently the only one known to have such a wide range but no correlation with other characters has been found. Amphibolips hidalgoensis is by far the most frequently collected Amphibolips species in Mexico. Such sampling bias might be concealing other, poorly sampled, species’ variability and attributing as intraspecific variability to a possible widely spread interspecific common trait. Alternatively, A. hidalgoensis is probably a complex of species that cannot be sorted out by only morphological criteria. For all these reasons we consider A. malinche as a syn. nova of A. hidalgoensis.