Cynipini
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| Cynipini | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Cynips sp. | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Cynipidae |
| Subfamily: | Cynipinae |
| Tribe: | Cynipini Leach, 1815 |
| Diversity | |
| around 1000 species | |
Cynipini is a tribe of gall wasps. These insects induce galls in plants of the beech and oak family, Fagaceae.[1] They are known commonly as the oak gall wasps.[2] It is the largest cynipid tribe, with about 936[3] to 1000[2] recognized species, most of which are associated with oaks.[2] The tribe is mainly native to the Holarctic.[3]
Cynipini wasps can act as ecosystem engineers. Their galls can become hosts of inquilines, and the wasps themselves are hosts to parasitoids.[4]
Most of these wasps undergo cyclical parthenogenesis, sometimes reproducing sexually, and sometimes producing young without fertilization.[2] [5]
