Galls on Red Oak - Callirhytis lanata

Moved

… Charley Eiseman, 21 February, 2013 - 11:14pm

Moved

Moved from "Parasitica" (parasitic Apocrita).
Does "red oak" mean Quercus rubra?

… Charley Eiseman, 1 January, 2013 - 9:30pm

Sorry-I just saw this. "Red O

Sorry-I just saw this. "Red Oak" in Texas can mean several things, and names have changed, making it even more confusing. What used to be Q. texana is now, I believe, Q. buckleyi. There's also a Q. shumardii in the mix somewhere (and probably more!) and I don't know how to tell them apart. I've kept the leaf over the winter--don't know if anything will come of it or not.

… Gacko, 15 February, 2013 - 12:38pm

red oaks in Dallas County

According to the USDA PLANTS database, Quercus buckleyi (Texas Red Oak) and Q. shumardii (Shumard Red Oak, Scheck Red Oak, Southern Red Oak, Swamp Red Oak) are the only two species in the red oak group (subgenus Erythrobalanus) with the words "red oak" as part of one of their several common names that occur naturally in Dallas County, Texas. Q. texana (also known as Texas Red Oak as well as Red Oak) is not reported from Dallas County in the USDA PLANTS database and is depicted as restricted to far eastern Texas in the Field Guide to Native Oak Species of Eastern North America. The Biota of North America (BONAP) atlas for these three species also shows this pattern.

If you still have the leaf and want to photograph and post it, I'll try to figure which you have.

… John Pearson, 20 February, 2013 - 10:21pm

Here you go--

Upper and Under.

… Gacko, 21 February, 2013 - 8:21pm

Quercus buckleyi

Using the Field Guide to Native Oak Species of Eastern North America, this keys out for me to Quercus buckleyi (no conspicuous axillary tuft of hairs, whereas Q. shumardii has such tufts). FYI, at one point in their taxonomic histories, Q. buckleyi was named Q. shumardii var. buckleyi and Q. texana was known as Q. shumardii var. texana. Confusion was added in the past when the name Q. texana was misapplied to Q. buckleyi.

… John Pearson, 21 February, 2013 - 9:37pm

Thanks--

Now I can be specific when posting here on BG--but now I understand why I found it so confusing!

… Gacko, 21 February, 2013 - 10:52pm

That's great that you've kept it

I have very similar galls on Q. rubra near my house in Massachusetts. I collected some in fall of 2011 and nothing has emerged yet, but sometimes cynipids can take a few years to emerge. Please keep any adults that do emerge--it would be necessary for a specialist to examine them to ID them, and I can put you in touch with someone if it comes to that.

… Charley Eiseman, 15 February, 2013 - 1:05pm

That's good information to have.

Thanks.

… Gacko, 15 February, 2013 - 2:36pm