Abstract
Aprostocetus chilophagae Yefremova and Yegorenkova, new species (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae: Tetrastichinae) is described from eastern South Dakota, U.S.A., and is reported as a parasitoid of the larva of Chilophaga virgati Gagné (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), an ovule predator of Panicum virgatum. This new species is separated from sympatric A. bromi (Kostjukov) and A. nebraskensis (Girault) by structural morphology and host associations. Aprostocetus bromi was recently recognized from North America as an introduced species from Russia that is a primary parasitoid of the introduced ovule feeding gall midge Stenodiplosis bromicola Marikovskij and Agafonova (Cecidomyiidae) on the invasive grass Bromus inermis. Aprostocetus nebraskensis is a native species that is known as a parasitoid only from S. wattsi Gagné, also an ovule predator on the native prairie grasses Andropogon girardii, Schizachyrium scoparium, and Sorghastrum nutans. Trichacis rufipes Ashmead (Platygastridae) co-occurs with A. chilophagae new species on C. virgati, and a Centrodora sp. (Aphelinidae) may be a hyperparasitoid. The females of A. bromi and A. nebraskensis are redescribed and the males for each species are described for the first time.
References
Agafonova, Z.Y. (1962) Development of the midge Stenodipiosis bromicola Mar. et Ag. (Diptera: Itonididae), in relation to peculiarities of brome biology (Bromus inermis Leyss. and B. riparius Rehm.) Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie, 41 (1), 22–39. [English: Entomological Review, 41, 11–21]
Barkworth, M.E., Anderton, L.K., Capels, K.M., Long, S. & Piep, M.B. (2007) Manual of Grasses for North America. Utah State University Press, Logan, ix + 640 pp.
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt4cgkq1Boe, A. & Gagné, R.J. (2011) A new species of gall midge (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) infesting switchgrass in the northern Great Plains. Bioenergy Research, 4, 77–84.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-010-9102-6Boe, A. & McDaniel, B. (1990) Conioscinella nuda Adams and Tetrastichus nebraskensis Girault reared from big bluestem inflorescences in South Dakota, U.S.A. Prairie Naturalist, 22 (3), 207–210.
Buhl, P.N. (2006) Key to Platygaster (Hymenoptera, Platygastridae) from Denmark, with description of new species. Steenstrupia, 29 (2), 127–167.
Baxendale, F.P., Lippincott, C.L. & Teetes, G.L. (1983) Biology and seasonal abundance of Hymenopterous parasitoids of sorghum midge (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae). Environmental Entomology, 12 (3), 871–877.
https://doi.org/10.1093/ee/12.3.871Calles Torrez, V., Johnson, P.J. & Boe, A. (2014) The switchgrass gall midge (Chilophaga virgati Gagné) in the Northern Great Plains. BioEnergy Research, 7 (1), 417–423.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-013-9386-4Cumming, J.M. & Wood, D.M. (2009) 2. Adult Morphology and Terminology. In: Brown, B.V., Borkent, A., Cumming, J.M., Wood, D.M., Woodley, N.E. & Zumbado, M.A. (Eds.), Manual of Central American Diptera. Vol. 1. NRC Research Press, Ottawa, Ontario, pp. 9–50.
Gagné, R.J. & Jaschhof, M. (2017) A Catalog of the Cecidomyiidae (Diptera) of the World. 4th Edition. Digital version. USDA-ARS, Waashington, D.C., 762 pp.
IPNI [The International Plant Names Index] (2015). Available from: http://www.ipni.org/index.html (accessed 4 February 2015)
Gibson, G.A.P. (1997) Chapter 2. Morphology and Terminology. In: Gibson, G.A.P., Huber, J.T. & Woolley, J.B. (Eds.), Annotated keys to the genera of Nearctic Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera). National Research Council of Canada, NRC Research Press, Ottawa, pp. 16–44.
Graham M.W.R. de V. (1987) A reclassification of the European Tetrastichinae (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), with a revision of certain genera. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Entomology Series, 55, 1–392.
Heraty, J.M., Burks, R.A., Cruaud, A., Gibson, G.A.P., Liljeblad, J., Munro, J., Rasplus, J.-Y. Delvare, G., Janšta, P., Gumovsky, A., Huber, J., Woolley, J.B., Krogmann, L., Heydon, S., Polaszek, A., Schmidt, S., Darling, D.C., Gates, M.W., Mottern, J., Murray, E., Dal Molin, A., Triapitsyn, S., Bauer, H., Pinto, J.D., van Noort, S., George, J. & Yoder, M. 2013. A phylogenetic analysis of the megadiverse Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera). Cladistics, 29 (5), 466–542.
https://doi.org/10.1111/cla.12006Johnson, P.J., Buhl, P.N. & Calles Torrez, V. (2013) A new species of Platygaster Latreille (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) parasitizing Chilophaga virgati Gagné (Diptera: Cecmidomyiidae). Zootaxa, 3630 (1), 184–190.
https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3630.1.8Kostjukov, V.V. (1978) Subfamily Tetrastichinae. In: Medvedev, G.S. (Ed.) Keys to the Insects of the European Part of the USSR. Vol. III. Hymenoptera. Part II. Oxonian Press Ltd., New Delhi, pp. 796–861. [1987, English translation by Sharma, B.R. (V.S. Kothekar (Ed.)) of Opredelitle’ Nasekomykh Evropeiskoi Chasti SSSR. Tom III. Pereponchatokrylye, Vtoraia Chast’. Nauka Publishers, Leningrad]
Kostjukov, V.V. & Kosheleva, O.V. (2006) Taxonomic position of the species described in Tetrastichus Haliday, 1844 (s.l.) from the USSR, with description of the new genus Trjapitzinichus, gen. nov. Biologicheskaya Zashchita rasteniy - osnova stabilizatsii agrozkosistem, 4, 103–110.
LaSalle, J. (1994) North American genera of Tetrastichinae (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae). Journal of Natural History, 28, 109–236.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00222939400770091LaSalle, J. (2005) Biology of gall inducers and evolution of gall induction in Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae, Eurytomidae, Pteromalidae, Tanaostigmatidae, Torymidae). In: Raman, A., Schaeffer, C.W., Withers, T.M. (Eds.), Biology, ecology and evolution of gall inducing arthropods. Science Publishers Inc., Enfield, NH, pp. 503–533.
Luo, H., Wu, Y. & Kole, C. (2014) Compendium of bioenergy plants: Switchgrass. CRC Press, Boca Raton, 464 pp.
https://doi.org/10.1201/b16681Marikovskij, P.I. & Agafonova, Z.J. (1961) A new species of gall midge (Diptera, Itonididae) injurious to brome grass: some characters of its biology. Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie, 40, 272–274. [translated to English in Entomological Review, 40 (2), 146–148. (1961)]
Monti, A. (2012) Switchgrass: A valuable biomass crop for energy. Spring, London, ix + 209 pp.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-2903-5Nieves-Aldrey, J.-L. & Askew, R.R. (2011) Two new species of Tetrastichinae (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) from Spain, the first known native European gall inducing tetrastichine and its parasitoid. Annales de la Société Entomologique de France, 47 (1–2), 154–161.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00379271.2011.10697707Noyes, J. (2015) Universal Chalcidoidea Database. Natural History Museum, London. Available from: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/entomology/chalcidoids/index.html (accessed 6 October 2016)
Otfinowski, R., Kenkel, N.C. & Catling, P.M. (2007) The biology of Canadian weeds. Bromus inermis Leyss. Canadian Journal of Plant Science, 87 (1), 183–198.
https://doi.org/10.4141/P06-071Perilla López, J.M. (2015) Grass-feeding gall midges (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) and their parasitoids in eastern South Dakota. Masters of Science thesis, South Dakota State University, Brookings, South Dakota, viii + 62 pp.
Perilla López, J.M., Johnson, P.J., Gagné, R.J. & Boe, A. (2015a) A new species of Stenodiplosis (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) on Spartina grasses (Poaceae) with notes on its biology and its parasitoid Tetrastichus bromi (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae). Zootaxa, 4057 (1), 115–124.
https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4057.1.7Perilla López, J.M., Johnson, P.J. & Boe, A. (2015b) Morphological and ecological discrimination of two Stenodiplosis (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) on Alopecurus arundinaceus, A. pratensis and Bromus inermis (Poales: Poaceae) in eastern South Dakota. Proceedings of the South Dakota Academy of Sciences, 94, 297–303.
Polaszek, A. (1991) Egg parasitism in Aphelinidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) with special reference to Centrodora and Encarsia species. Bulletin of Entomological Research, 81, 97-–106.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007485300053293