Gall Wasps

All the species of this family inhabit plants, either as gall-makers or as inquilines. The latter develop in galls produced by other Cynipidae, by Chalcidoidea, or by Diptera. The first subfamily, Synerginae, contains only inquilines, or as often designated in cynipid literature, guests. The second subfamily, Cynipinae, is composed entirely of gall producing species. ~The arrangement of genera and species used here is based on the published papers of the late L. H. Weld, his unpublished notes, and his arrangement of the U. S. N. M. collection. The nomenclature used here may or may not agree with that used by Felt in his 1940 publication, Plant Galls and Gall Makers, 364 pp. All evidence is that Mr. Weld thoroughly considered Felt's nomenclature before he prepared the Cynipidae section of the 1951 Hymenoptera Catalog. ~As was done in the 1951 Hymenoptera Catalog, two large papers by A. C. Kinsey are cited as separate publications. This is done primarily because those works were widely distributed by Kinsey as separate volumes. The complete references for them are as follows: Kinsey, 1930. The Gall Wasp Genus Cynips, Ind. Univ. Studies 16 (84, 85, 86): 1-577, June, Sept., Dec. 1929, issued Feb. 1930. (Waterman Inst. Sci. Res. Pub. 42; Contrib. Dept. Zool., Ind. Univ. No. 220, Ent. Ser. No. 7). Kinsey, 1936. The Origin of Higher Categories in Cynips, Ind. Univ. Pubs., Sci. Ser. No. 4: 1-334, issued Nov. 1936. (Contrib. Dept. Zool., Ind. Univ. No. 242, Ent. Ser. No. 10).