A study on the abundance and species diversity of cynipid wasps (Hym.: Cynipidae) in West Azerbaijan province, Iran

The induced galls by oak gall wasps were collected from various oak forests of Iranian province of West Azerbaijan in the regions of Ghabre-Hossein، Mir-Abad، Vavan، Shalmash، Rabat and Dar-Ghabr during from April to November 2009. The optimum number of samples was found to be 40 oak trees. In each tree، as a sampling unit، all of the existing galls were counted. The species richness of oak gall wasps in the West Azerbaijan province was measured and the parameters such as Simpson’s، Shannon’s H''، and Sorensen similarity indexes were calculated. In this study، 35 species of oak gall wasps on the oak tree species of Quercus infectoria، Q. brantii and Q. libani were identified. Most galls were observed on Q. infectoria. All of the collected oak gall wasp species belonged to the genera Andricus Hartig، Cynips L.، Neuroterus Hartig، Biorhiza Westwood، Pseudoneuroterus Kinsey، Chilaspis Mayr and Aphelonyx Mayre. The genus Andricus included 23 species of oak gall wasps. The highest Simpson and Shannon indexes were recorded for the spring galls of Mir-Abad and for the fall galls of Ghabre-Hossein and Dar-Ghabr regions. The Sorensen similarity index reached its peak for the spring galls (sexual generation of oak gall wasps) of Ghabre-Hossein and Mir-Abad and for the fall galls (asexual generation of oak gall wasps) of Ghabre-Hossein and Dar-Ghabr. The distribution of oak species and subspecies، and geographical and climatic aspects are believed to be among the key factors for the species diversity of oak gall wasps.