About Belonocnema kinseyi Weld, 1921
The asexual generation of Belonocnema kinseyi forms smooth, single-chambered ball-shaped galls that develop on the underside of leaves. Young galls are orange or light brown, and darken as they mature. Galls from the sexual generation grow as irregular, multi-chambered clusters on small rootlets. Belonocnema kinseyi can be distinguished from B. fossoria in both the sexual and asexual generations by the spur on the anterior side of the fore tibia being shorter than the basitarsus. It can also be differentiated from B. treatae: sexual generation individuals have deeply defined scutellar foveae that are narrowly separated by a carina, while asexual generation individuals have a reddish brown color and an indistinct areolet. Belonocnema kinseyi is distributed in southern Louisiana, southern Mississippi, a small area of Oklahoma, and south, central, and southeast Texas. This distribution matches the range of its host trees, Quercus virginiana and Quercus fusiformis. A species replacement occurs in southeast Mississippi, where B. treatae takes the place of B. kinseyi across the rest of the eastern range of Q. virginiana.
