Spatial Distribution and Parasitism of Leaf Galls Induced by Callirhytis cornigera (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) on Pin Oak

Callirhytis cornigera (Osten Sacken) is a gall wasp that has alternating agamic and sexual generations that develop in large, woody stem galls and small, blister-like leaf galls, respectively, on pin oak, Quercus palustris Muenchhausen. We assessed the spatial distribution of the leaf galls within leaves, shoots, canopy levels, and whole trees, and examined the relationship between leaf gall density and various tree parameters. Within leaves, proportionately more galls were located on primary lateral veins (59.5%) or midveins (38.1%), as compared with the petioles (2.0%) or secondary lateral veins (0.4%). As many as 18 galls occurred on individual leaves, but most leaves contained 0–4 galls. Some current-year shoots contained as many as 132 leaf galls, but most shoots had