Belonocnema is a genus of oak gall wasps in the family Cynipidae, found in the United States and Mexico. All species induce galls on section Virentes oaks and have both sexual and asexual generations. The asexual generation galls form as small balls on the underside of leaves, and the sexual galls form on roots. A number of inquiline, parasitoid, and hyperparasitoid wasp species have been reared from Belonocnema galls.
Taxonomy
The genus was first named and described by Gustav Mayr in 1881 with Belonocnema treatae as the type species.Mayr, G. (1881) Die Genera der gallenbewohnenden Cynipiden. Jahresberichte der Communal-Oberrealschule im I. Bezirke, Wien 20: 1-38. The taxonomy of the species in the genus has been subject to different interpretations but now appears resolved through study of the morphology, ecology, and genetics of the genus. The genus Dryorhizoxenus, described by William Ashmead, is considered a synonym of Belonocnema, with its type species, D. floridanus, included in B. treatae.
Species Belonocnema contains the following described species: Belonocnema fossoria Weld, 1921 Belonocnema kinseyi Weld, 1921 Beloncnema mesoamericana Zhang, Zaldívar-Riverón & Fernández-Flores, 2026 Belonocnema treatae (Mayr, 1881)
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