Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Type: Articles
Published: 2007-01-15
Page range: 1–30
Abstract views: 40
PDF downloaded: 24

A world revision of the Pycnostigminae (Cynipoidea: Figitidae) with descriptions of seven new species 

Systematic Entomology Lab, USDA, c/o Smithsonian NMNH, 10th & Constitution Ave NW, Washington DC 20013
Natural History Division, Iziko South African Museum, PO Box 61, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa
Cynipoidea Pycnostigmus Tyl osema Trjapitziniola Pycnostigminae Figitidae Hymenoptera new species redescription

Abstract

Pycnostigmus rostratus Cameron, 1905, is redescribed and four new species of Pycnostigmus are described: P. mastersonae Buffington & van Noort, new species; P. incognito Buffington & van Noort, new species; P.  fossilensis Buffington & van Noort, new species; and P. hoerikwaggoensis Buffington & van Noort, new species. Pycnostigmus mastersonae is the only known species of Cynipoidea with a metallic sheen on the head and mesosoma. A redescription of Tyl osema nigerrimum Kieffer, 1905, is provided as well as the description of two new species: Tylosema dayae Buffington & van Noort, new species and Tylosema ronquisti Buffington & van Noort, new species. The discovery of two new species of Tyl osema in South Africa is noteworthy since the only previously known species, T. nigerrimum Kieffer, is from Algeria. A redescription of Trjapitziniola popovi (Belizin 1951) is provided as well as the description of one new species: Trjapitziniola vanharteni Buffington & van Noort, new species. Trjapitziniola vanharteni was collected in the United Emirates Republic, which extends the distribution of Trjapitziniola well into the Arabian Penninsula. An online key to World species of Pycnostigminae and images are available at www.waspweb.org/Cynipoidea/Figitidae/Pycnostigminae/ index.htm, and images of all species contained within this paper are available from http://morphbank.net.

References

  1. Axelrod, D.I. & Raven, P.H. (1978) Late Cretaceous and Tertiary vegetation history of Africa. In: Werger, M.A.J. (Ed.), Biogeography and Ecology of Southern Africa, W. Junk, The Hague, pp. 77–130

    Belizin, V.I. (1951) Cynipidae (Hymenoptera) of the fauna of the USSR and adjacent countries [In Russian]. Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie, 31, 566–574.

    Bowden, J. (1978) Diptera. In: Werger, M.A.J. (Ed.), Biogeography and Ecology of Southern Africa, W. Junk, The Hague, pp. 775–796

    Buffington, M. (2000) The phylogeny and classification of the Gronotoma group (s.l.) of genera (Hymenoptera: Figitidae: Eucoilinae). Texas A&M University. [MS Thesis].

    Buffington, M. (2005) Phylogenetics and evolution of the Figitidae (Hymenoptera: Cynipoidea). University of California, Riverside. [Doctoral Dissertation].

    Buffington, M.L., Burks, R.& McNeil, L. (2005) Advanced techniques for imaging microhymenoptera. American Entomologist, 51, 50–54.

    Cameron, P. (1905) A new genus and species of Cynipidae from South Africa, representing a new subfamily. Annals and Magazines of Natural History, Series 7, 16, 20–21.

    Carcasson, R.H. (1964) A preliminary survey of the zoogeography of African butterflies. East African Wildlife Journal, 2, 122–157.

    Cowling, R.M., Rundel, P.W., Desmet, P.G., & Esler, K.J., (1998) Extraordinarily high regional-scale plant diversity in southern African arid lands: subcontinental and global comparisons. Diversity and Distributions, 4, 27–36.

    Denton, G.H. (1999) Cenozoic climate change. In: Bromage, T.G. & Schrenk, F. (Eds.) African Biogeography, Climate Change and Human Evolution, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, pp. 94–114.

    Endrödy-Younga, S. (1978) Coleoptera. In: Werger, M. A. J. (Ed.) Biogeography and Ecology of Southern Africa, W. Junk, The Hague, pp. 799–820.

    Fleming, I. (1959) Goldfinger, New York, Macmillan, 191 pp.

    Fontal-Cazalla, F.M., Buffington, M., Nordlander, G., Liljeblad, J., Ros-Farré, P., Nieves-Aldrey, J. L., Pujade-Villar, J., & Ronquist, F. (2002) Phylogeny of the Eucoilinae (Hymenoptera: Cynipoidea: Figitidae). Cladistics, 18, 154–199.

    Gess, S.K. (1992) Biogeography of the masarine wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Masarinae), with particular emphasis on the southern African taxa and on correlations between masarine and forage plant distributions. Journal of Biogeography, 19, 491–503.

    Goldblatt, P. (1997) Floristic diversity in the Cape Flora of South Africa. Biodiversity and Conservation, 6, 359–377.

    Grubb, P. (1999) Evolutionary processes implicit in distribution patterns of modern African mammals. In: Bromage, T.G. & Schrenk, F. (Eds.) African Biogeography, Climate Change and Human Evolution, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, pp. 150–164.

    Grubb, P., Sandrock, O., Kullmer, O., Kaiser, T.M. & Schrenk, F. (1999) Relationships between eastern and southern African mammal faunas. In: Bromage, T.G. and Schrenk, F. (Eds.) African Biogeography, Climate Change and Human Evolution, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, pp. 253–267.

    Harris, R.A. (1979) A glossary of surface sculpturing. Occasional Papers in Entomology, 28, 1–31.

    International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (2000) International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. C/o The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK. Available from: www.iczn.org (accessed 6 May 2006).

    Kieffer, J.J. (1905) Description de quelques Hyménoptères exotiques. Bulletin de la Societé Histoires Naturelles de Metz, 24, 85–114.

    King, L. (1978) The geomorphology of central and southern Africa. In: Werger, M. A. J. (Ed.) Biogeography and Ecology of Southern Africa, W. Junk, The Hague, pp. 1–17.

    Kovalev, O. (1995) Paleontogical history, phylogeny, and the system of brachycleistograstromorphs and cynipomorphs (Hymenoptera: Brachycleistograstromorpha infraorder n., Cynipomorpha infraorder n.) with description of new fossil and recent families, subfamilies and genera. Entomological Review, 74, 105–147. (Originally published in Russian in Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie, 73, 385–426).

    Latimer A.M., Silander, J.A. & Cowling, R.M. (2005) Neutral ecological theory reveals isolation and rapid speciation in a biodiversity hot spot. Science, 309, 1722–1725.

    Linder H.P. (2003) The radiation of the Cape flora, southern Africa. Biological Reviews, 78, 597–638.

    Linder H.P., Meadows, M.E. & Cowling, R.M. (1992) History of the Cape flora. In: Cowling R.M. (Ed.) The Ecology of Fynbos, Nutrients, Fire and Diversity. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, pp. 113–134.

    McCarthy, T. & Rubidge, B. (2005) The story of Earth & Life. A southern African perspective on a 4.6-billion-year jour- ney. Struik Publishers, Cape Town, 336 pp.

    Myers N., Mittermeier, R.A., Mittermeier, C.G., da Fonseca, G.A.B. & Kent, J. (2000) Biodiversity hotspots for conser- vation priorities. Nature, 403, 853–858.

    Picker, M.D., Colville, J.F. & van Noort, S. (2002) Mantophasmatodea now in South Africa. Science, 297, 1475.

    Rasnitsyn, A.P. (1980) [Origin and evolution of Hymenoptera]. Trudy Paleontologicheskogo Instituta Akademiya Nauk SSSR, 123, 1–196 [in Russian].

    Ronquist, F. (1995) Phylogeny and early evolution of the Cynipoidea (Hymenoptera). Systematic Entomology, 20, 309– 335.

    Ronquist, F. (1999) Phylogeny, classification and evolution of the Cynipoidea. Zoologica Scripta, 28, 139–164.

    Tolley, K.A., Burger, M., Turner, A.A. & Matthee, C.A. (2006) Biogeographic patterns and phylogeography of dwarf chameleons (Bradypodion) in an African biodiversity hotspot. Molecular Ecology, 15, 781–793.

    Vrba, E.S. (1992) Mammals as a key to evolutionary theory. Journal of Mammalogy, 73, 1–28.

    Weld, L. (1952) Cynipoidea (Hym.) 19051950. Privately Printed, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 350 pp.

    White, F. (1983) The vegetation of Africa. A descriptive memoir to accompany the Unesco/AETFAT/UNSO vegetation map of Africa, Unesco, Paris, 356 pp.