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1. New country record and commentary for Aulacidea hei Wang et al. (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Aulacideini)

   https://doi.org/10.56222/28166531.2024.36  

   Nastasi, Louis F; Deans, Andrew R (January 2024, Specimen)

   Favret, Colin (Ed.)

   The herb gall wasp fauna of the Eastern Palearctic is a diverse but understudied assemblage (Melika 2006). Recently, two species have been described from China: Aulacidea hei Wang et al., 2012 and A. manchuria Nastasi, 2024 (Nastasi & Deans 2024). While the latter species was described with high-quality images and a detailed discussion of its taxonomy, A. hei is virtually unknown aside from a morphological description and several photos. We discovered an herb gall wasp among unsorted cynipoids on loan from the Entomology Museum of Utah State (EMUS, Logan, Utah, USA) that perfectly agrees with the original description and images of A. hei. Locating this specimen allows us to re-illustrate key diagnostic characters, discuss its placement within the Aulacideini, and highlight important label data. The new specimen was collected in Russia, a new country record for A. hei. 

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2. Review of the world genera of Phanacidini (Hymenoptera: Cynipoidea: Cynipidae), with the first record from China and a new tribal diagnostic character

   https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5621.4.1  

   NASTASI, LOUIS F; DEANS, ANDREW R (April 2025, Zootaxa)

   We review the genera of Phanacidini and provide updated diagnoses for each genus and a new key to the four genera. We also redescribe the enigmatic herb gall wasp Diakontschukia saussureae Diakontschuk, 2001 (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Phanacidini), based on a specimen collected in Haopingsi Nature Reserve, China. This is the first record of the tribe Phanacidini in China. Lastly, we provide extensive commentary on the validity of diagnostic characters that have been used for Phanacidini relative to other herb gall wasp tribes. We carried out a survey of Aulacideini, Aylacini, and Phanacidini to identify whether the length of F1 relative to F2 was of diagnostic value at the tribal level, finding that F1 was always conspicuously longer than F2 in Phanacidini and Aylacini but at most subequal to F2 in Aulacideini, suggesting that this is indeed a valuable character for diagnosing herb gall wasp tribes. Other characters discussed are the closure of the marginal cell and the dimensions of the mesopectus. 

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3. Catalogue of Rose Gall, Herb Gall, and Inquiline Gall Wasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) of the United States, Canada and Mexico

   https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.9.e68558  

   Nastasi, Louis; Deans, Andrew (August 2021, Biodiversity Data Journal)

   Cynipidae (Hymenoptera: Cynipoidea) is a diverse group of wasps, many of which are capable of inducing plants to make galls, novel structures that protect and nourish the wasps' larvae. Other cynipids, especially those species in Ceroptresini and Synergini, are understood to be usurpers of galls made by other cynipids. The North American cynipid fauna has not been fully catalogued since 1979, but there is renewed interest in revising the taxonomy and in doing research that sheds light on the mechanisms of gall induction, the evolution of this life history, and their ecological interactions more broadly. Significant taxonomic changes have impacted the group since 1979, thereby warranting a new catalogue. The current state of knowledge of species classified in Aulacideini, Ceroptresini, Diastrophini, Diplolepidini, Phanacidini and Synergini in the United States, Canada, and Mexico is summarised in catalogue format. We report 323 names, including 170 valid species of rose gall wasps, herb gall wasps, and inquiline gall wasps, classified in 12 genera, from the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Current taxonomic status, distribution, host associations, and vernacular names are listed for each species. The catalogue also includes the original description of galls for many species of gall-inducer, as well as atomised characterisations of different gall traits as key-value pairs. For most galling species without existing vernacular names, new vernacular names are proposed. 

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4. Review of Herb Gall Wasp Tribes (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Aylacini Sensu lato), with an Updated Key to Cynipid Tribes and a Checklist of World Species

   https://doi.org/10.4289/0013-8797.127.1.84  

   Nastasi, Louis F; Davis, Charles K; Nieves-Aldrey, José Luis; Buffington, Matthew L; Van_Noort, Simon; Deans, Andrew R (January 2025, Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington)

   We review the tribes of Cynipidae that are known to contain gall inducers on herbaceous plants, which are presently classified in four tribes: Aulacideini, Aylacini, Diastrophini, and Phanacidini. We provide a revised key to these tribes, diagnostic characters for each tribe, and an updated key to brachypterous and apterous Cynipoidea including the inclusion of brachyptery in Phanacidini. We propose the replacement name Eubothrus Förster, 1869 for the genus Isocolus Förster, 1869 (Aulacideini) as the latter is a homonym of the trilobite genus Isocolus Angelin, 1854 (Trilobita: Isocolidae). We also provide a checklist of world herb gall wasp species including host plant and geographic distribution data. Overall, we report 166 species of herb gall wasps, finding 96 species in 11 genera in Aulacideini, 6 species in 3 genera in Aylacini, and 39 species in 4 genera in Phanacidini, as well as 25 gall-inducing species in 3 genera in Diastrophini, of which 11 are or probably are associated with herbaceous plants. Online Lucid identification keys and images of all the taxa treated herein are available at: http://www.waspweb.org. 

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5. Speciation in kleptoparasites of oak gall wasps often correlates with shifts into new tree habitats, tree organs, or gall morphospace

   https://doi.org/10.1093/evolut/qpad202  

   Ward, Anna_K G; Zhang, Y Miles; Brown, Guerin E; Hippee, Alaine C; Prior, Kirsten M; Rollins, Shannon; Sierra, Nicolas; Sheikh, Sofia I; Tribull, Carly M; Forbes, Andrew A (November 2023, Evolution)

   Taylor, Scott; Zelditch, Miriam (Ed.)

   Abstract Host shifts to new plant species can drive speciation for plant-feeding insects, but how commonly do host shifts also drive diversification for the parasites of those same insects? Oak gall wasps induce galls on oak trees and shifts to novel tree hosts and new tree organs have been implicated as drivers of oak gall wasp speciation. Gall wasps are themselves attacked by many insect parasites, which must find their hosts on the correct tree species and organ, but also must navigate the morphologically variable galls with which they interact. Thus, we ask whether host shifts to new trees, organs, or gall morphologies correlate with gall parasite diversification. We delimit species and infer phylogenies for two genera of gall kleptoparasites, Synergus and Ceroptres, reared from a variety of North American oak galls. We find that most species were reared from galls induced by just one gall wasp species, and no parasite species was reared from galls of more than four species. Most kleptoparasite divergence events correlate with shifts to non-ancestral galls. These shifts often involved changes in tree habitat, gall location, and gall morphology. Host shifts are thus implicated in driving diversification for both oak gall wasps and their kleptoparasitic associates. 

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