62 



Indiana University Studies 



Diplolepis fusiformans variety mendocinensis, new variety 



FEMALE.— Shows the following characters in addition to those 

 common to all varieties of the species: Mouthparts rich brownish rufous; 

 first two segments of the antennae medium rufo-piceous to very dark 

 brown, sometimes lighter than in minuta; lateral lines not smooth, not 

 very evident; abdomen dark brown rufous, dark brown posteriorly and 

 ventrally, not as black as in minuta; second segment covering a half or 

 somewhat more of the abdomen; hypopygium relatively larger than in 

 fusiformans; legs yellow rufous, the coxas basally, parts of the femora, 

 and the hind tibiae dark brown; areolet very small or closed; length 

 1.7-2.2 mm., averaging about as larg-e as fusiformans. 



MALE. — Almost identical with the male of minuta, the legs aver- 

 aging lighter, especially not as dark on the coxae and femora; the areolet 

 more often of moderate size, larger than in the female; length 1.5- 

 2.0 mm. 



GALL. — Dilfers from the galls of other varieties in having the 

 swelling of moderate size, up to 30. mm. in length and 5.0 mm. in 

 diameter, sometimes with several g-alls fused together; the larval cells 

 clustered, with sometimes about 30 in a gall. 



RANGE. — California: Ukiah. Probably confined to a region in 

 Mendocino and northern Sonoma counties. 



TYPES.— 67 females, 70 males, 80 galls. Holotype female, para- 

 type adults, and g-alls at The American Museum of Natural History; 

 paratype adults and galls at Stanford University, the U.S. National 

 Museum, the Museum of Comparative Zoology, the Philadelphia Acad- 

 emy, and with the author. Labelled Ukiah, California; March 17, 1920; 

 Kinsey collector. 



On March 17, 1920, the galls at Ukiah contained mature 

 larvse, with evidence that some of the insects had already 

 emerged. Of the 137 adults bred, 70, or just about 50 per 

 cent, are males. The galls are usually located near the tips 

 of the tvAgs, and altho they are only slight swellings of 

 the stem are rather noticeable, because in many cases the bark 

 covering of the cluster of cells is to some extent lost. Whether 

 this is due to the weathering away of the thin bark, or to at- 

 tacks of birds or mice I cannot determine. 



The insect very closely resembles the insect of minuta, 

 from which it is distinguished mainly by minor color differ- 

 ences and the very distinct size. This size difference is too 

 great and too constant to be ignored. Moreover the galls of 

 the two are distinct, altho they are more similar to each 

 other than to fusiformans. This correlation of similarities 

 between the morphological and physiological characters of the 

 insect is worth attention. 



