A New Genus of Oak Gallwasp, Heocynips Fang, Nieves-Aldrey, and Melika (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini), from China

The known species richness of oak gallwasps in Asia has increased tremendously in the past decade. However, the vast majority of taxa have been described from the east coast of Asia, and knowledge of oak gallwasps from Central Asia is still scant. Here we use molecular and morphological characters to describe a new genus of cynipid oak gallwasp, Heocynips Fang, Nieves-Aldrey, and Melika, new genus (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini), and a new species Heocynips furvoaurantius Tang, Nicholls, and Stone, new species from Emeishan, Sichuan Province, China. We present diagnostic characters for the new genus, including adult morphology and DNA sequence data, and provide biological information on host plant association, gall morphology and developmental phenology for the new species.