Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 3630 No. 1: 19 Mar. 2013
Type: Articles
Published: 2013-03-19
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3630.1.8
Page range: 184–190
Abstract views: 82
PDF downloaded: 11

A new species of Platygaster Latreille (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) parasitizing Chilophaga virgati Gagné (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae)

Insect Biodiversity Lab, Box 2207A, South Dakota State University, Brookings, South Dakota 57007
Troldhøjvej, DK-3310 Ølsted, Denmark
Insect Biodiversity Lab, Box 2207A, South Dakota State University, Brookings, South Dakota 57007
Hymenoptera Platygastridae Platygaster new species Chilophaga Cecidomyiidae parasitoid Panicum virgatum switchgrass polyembryony

Abstract

Platygaster chilophagae, new species, is described from specimens reared from larvae of Chilophaga virgati Gagné collected and reared in eastern South Dakota. The host larva feeds on the basal meristematic tissues of the inflorescence of Panicum virgatum L. This new species seems to lack immediate affinities with any described Platygaster species in its combination of characteristics, and is compared to and discriminated from six other species. Polyembryony is suggested by the presence of cocoon clusters containing 4–14 pupae from each host larva.

References

  1. Boe, A. & Gagné, R. (2011) A New Species of Gall Midge (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) Infesting Switchgrass in the Northern Great Plains. BioEnergy Research, 4(2), 77–84.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12155-010-9102-6

    Bullock, D.G., Bosque-Pérez, N.A., Johnson, J.B. & Merickel F.W. (2004) Species Composition and Distribution of Hessian Fly (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) Parasitoids in Northern Idaho. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society, 77(3), 174–180.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.2317/0309.1

    Fouts, R.M. (1924) Revision of the North American Wasps of the Subfamily Platygasterinae. Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum, 63(15), 1–145.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.5479/si.00963801.63-2484.1

    Gagné, R.J. (1989) The Plant-Feeding Gall Midges of North America. Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London. xi+356 p.

    Hawkins, B.A. & Gagné, R.J. (1989) Determinants of Assemblage Size for the Parasitoids of Cecidomyiidae (Diptera). Oecologia, 81(1), 75–88.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/bf00377013

    Krombein, K.V., Hurd, P.D. Jr., Smith, D.R. & Burks, B.D. (1979) Catalog of Hymenoptera in America North of Mexico, vol. 1, Symphyta and Apocrita (Parasitica). Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. 1198 pp.

    MacGown, M. W. (1979) The Platygastridae (Hymenoptera: Proctotrupoidea) Parasitic on Midges (Cecidomyiidae) Found on Conifers in Canada and the United States, Mississippi Agricultural & Forestry Experiment Station Information Bulletin, 9, 1–115.

    MacGown, M. W. (unpublished) Key to the Identification of Species of Platygaster (Hymenoptera: Proctotrupoidea) in the United States , 42 pp, 101 figs.

    Masner, L. Superfamily Platygastroidea, pp. 558–565. In H. Goulet and J.T. Huber (eds.), Hymenoptera of the World: An Identification Guide to Families. Research Branch Agriculture Canada, Publication 1894/E. vii+668 pp.