Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 5401 No. 1: 17 Jan. 2024
Type: Monograph
Published: 2024-01-17
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5401.1.1
Page range: 1-190
Abstract views: 306
PDF downloaded: 27

Morphological phylogeny and revision of Sycophila and Ficomila (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea, Eurytomidae) associated with Afrotropical fig trees (Moraceae, Ficus)

Insects Taxonomy Research Department; Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection (IRIPP); AREEO; Tehran; IRAN
CIRAD; UMR 1062 CBGP; Montferrier-sur-Lez; FRANCE
Centre de Biologie pour la Gestion des Populations (CBGP); INRAE; CIRAD; IRD; Montpellier SupAgro; Université de Montpellier; Montpellier; FRANCE
Centre de Biologie pour la Gestion des Populations (CBGP); INRAE; CIRAD; IRD; Montpellier SupAgro; Université de Montpellier; Montpellier; FRANCE
Hymenoptera key morphology new species new subgenus non-pollinating fig wasps

Abstract

Eurytomidae (Chalcidoidea) species associated with fig trees (Ficus) are still poorly documented. A phylogenetic analysis of 63 morphological characters was conducted to revise Afrotropical species of Sycophila Walker and Ficomila Bouček associated with fig trees. Based on our results, which also included Palaearctic species of Sycophila, three subgenera of Sycophila are proposed: Sycophila s. str., Tineomyza Rondani stat. rev. and a new subgenus, Ficorytoma subgen. n. Lotfalizadeh & Rasplus. Ficomila is maintained as a valid genus. Thirty-six species are also newly described by Lotfalizadeh & Rasplus, namely Ficomila artocarpoides sp. n., F. carolae sp. n., F. bouceki sp. n., F. comptoni sp. n., F. flava sp. n., F. gabonensis sp. n., F. gibba sp. n., F. guinensis sp. n., F. sinai sp. n., F. tanzanica sp. n., F. vannoorti sp. n., Sycophila (Tineomyza) beninensis sp. n., S. (T.) busseicola sp. n., S. (T.) glumosae sp. n., S. (T.) luteacola sp. n., S. (T.) maldesi sp. n., S. (T.) minuta sp. n., S. (T.) platygastra sp. n., S. (T.) risbeci sp. n., S. (T.) wiebesi sp. n., S. (T.) zebrogastra sp. n., S. (Ficorytoma) delvarei sp. n., S. (F.) persicae sp. n., S. (Sycophila) annae sp. n., S. (S.) bidentata sp. n., S. (S.) longiflagellata sp. n., S. (S.) chirindensis sp. n., S. (S.) ficophila sp. n., S. (S.) fusca sp. n., S. (S.) lasallei sp. n., S. (S.) macrospermae sp. n., S. (S.) meridionalis sp. n., S. (S.) nigra sp. n., S. (S.) nigriterga sp. n., S. (S.) suricola sp. n., S. (S.) zebra sp. n.. Seven described species of Sycophila are reclassified in the subgenus Tineomyza: Sycophila (Tineomyza) flaviclava Bouček, 1981; S. (T.) modesta Bouček, 1981; S. (T.) naso Bouček, 1981; S. (T.) punctum Bouček, 1981; S. (T.) ruandensis Risbec, 1957; S. (T.) sessilis Bouček, 1981 and S. (T.) setulosa Zerova, 2009. After this revision, Ficomila and Sycophila include 46 species associated with Afrotropical Ficus. Detailed morphological descriptions and illustrations as well as identification keys are provided for the subgenera, species-groups and species of Ficomila and Sycophila associated with Afrotropical fig trees; their host fig association and relative lack of host-specificity are also discussed.

 

References

  1. Ashmead, W.H. (1888) A revised generic table of the Eurytominae, with descriptions of new species. (Part I.). Entomologica Americana, 4 (3), 41–43.
  2. Ashmead, W.H. (1894) Descriptions of new parasitic Hymenoptera. Transactions of the American Entomological Society, 21, 318–344.
  3. Ashmead, W.H. (1904) Classification of the chalcid flies of the superfamily Chalcidoidea, with descriptions of new species in the Carnegie Museum, collected in South America by Herbert H. Smith. Memoirs of the Carnegie Museum, 1 (4), 225–551. https://doi.org/10.5962/p.234821
  4. Askew, R.R. & Shaw, M.R. (1986) Parasitoid communities: their size structure and development. In: Waage, J. & Greathead, D.J. (Eds.), Insect Parasitoids. London: Academic Press Inc. Ltd. pp. 225–264.
  5. Bain, A., Borges, R.M., Chevallier, M.H., Vignes, H., Kobmoo, N., Peng, Y.Q., Cruaud, A., Rasplus, J.-Y., Kjellberg, F. & Hossaert-McKey, M. (2016) Geographic structuring into vicariant species-pairs in a wide-ranging, high-dispersal plant-insect mutualism: the case of Ficus racemosa and its pollinating wasps. Evolutionary Ecology, 30, 663–684. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-016-9836-5
  6. Berg, C.C. (1990) Annotated check-list of the Ficus species of the African floristic region, with special reference and a key to the taxa of southern Africa. Kirkia, 13, 253–291.
  7. Berg, C.C. & Wiebes, J.T. (1992) African fig trees and fig wasps. Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, 89, 1–298.
  8. Bouček, Z. (1974) On the Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera) described by C. Rondani. Redia, 55, 241–285.
  9. Bouček, Z. (1988) Australian Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera): A Biosystematic Revision of Genera of Fourteen Families, with a Reclassification of Species. CAB International, Wallingford Wallingford, 832 pp.
  10. Bouček, Z., Watsham, A. & Wiebes, J.T. (1981) The fig wasp fauna of the receptacles of Ficus thonningii (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea). Tijdschrift voor Entomologie, 124, 149–223.
  11. Burks, R., Mitroiu, M.D., Fusu, L., Heraty, J.M., Janšta, P., Heydon, S., Dale-Skey Papilloud, N., Peters, R.S., Woolley, J.B., van Noort, S., Tselikh, E., Baur, A., Cruaud, A., Darling, C., Haas, M., Hanson, P., Krogmann, L. & Rasplus, J.-Y. (2022) From hell’s heart I stab at thee! A determined approach towards a monophyletic Pteromalidae and reclassification of Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera). Journal of Hymenoptera Research, 94, 13–88. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.94.94263
  12. Burrows, J. & Burrows, S. (2003) Figs of Southern and South-Central Africa. Umdaus Press, Hatfield, South Africa. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0939-4_4
  13. Compton, S.G. (1993) One way to be a fig. African Entomology, 1, 151–158.
  14. Compton, S.G. & van Noort, S. (1992) Southern African fig wasps (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea): resource utilization and host relationships. Proceedings of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, 95, 423–35.
  15. Dalla Torre, K.W. von (1898) Catalogus Hymenopterorum Hucusque Descriptorum Systematicus et Synonymicus. V. Chalcididae et Proctotrupidae. Lepzig, 598 pp.
  16. Farache, F.H.A., Cruaud, A., Genson, G., Pereira, R.A.S. & Rasplus, J.-Y. (2013) Taxonomic revision and molecular phylogeny of the fig wasp genus Anidarnes Boucek, 1993 (Hymenoptera: Sycophaginae). Systematic Entomology, 38, 14–34. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3113.2012.00644.x.
  17. Farooqi, S.I. & Subba Rao, B.R. (1986) Family Eurytomidae. In: Subba Rao, B.R.& Hayat, M. (Eds.), The Chalcidoidea (Insecta: Hymenoptera) of India and the adjacent countries. Oriental Insects, 20, 247–258. https://doi.org/10.1080/00305316.1986.10433731
  18. Goloboff, P.A. & Arias, J.S. (2019) Likelihood approximations of implied weights parsimony can be selected over the Mk model by the Akaike information criterion. Cladistics, 35, 695–716. https://doi.org/10.1111/cla.12380
  19. Gomez, J.F., Nieves-Aldrey, J.L. & Stone, G.N. (2013) On the morphology of the terminal-instar larvae of some European species of Sycophila (Hymenoptera: Eurytomidae) parasitoids of gall wasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae). Journal of Natural History, 47 (47–48), 2937–2960. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2013.791937
  20. Kerdelhué, C., Rossi, J.P. & Rasplus, J.-Y. (2000) Comparative community ecology studies on Old World figs and fig wasps. Ecology, 81 (10), 2832–2849. https://doi.org/10.1890/0012-9658(2000)081[2832:CCESOO]2.0.CO;2
  21. Kerdelhué, C. & Rasplus, J.-Y. (1996). Non-pollinating Afrotropical fig wasps affect the fig-pollinator mutualism in Ficus within the subgenus Sycomorus. Oikos, 75, 3–14. https://doi.org/10.2307/3546315
  22. Kerdelhué, C., Rossi, J.-P. & Rasplus, J.-Y. (2000) Comparative community ecology studies on Old World figs and fig wasps. Ecology, 81, 2832–2849. https://doi.org/10.1890/0012-9658(2000)081[2832:CCESOO]2.0.CO;2
  23. Lotfalizadeh, H., Delvare, G. & Rasplus, J.-Y. (2007) Phylogenetic analysis of Eurytominae based on morphological characters (Chalcidoidea: Eurytomidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 151, 441–510. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.2007.00308.x
  24. Lotfalizadeh, H., Delvare, G. & Rasplus, J.-Y. (2008) Sycophila pistacina (Hymenoptera, Eurytomidae): a valid species. European Journal of Entomology, 105(1), 137–147. https://doi.org/10.14411/eje.2008.019
  25. Masi, L. (1917) Chalcididae of the Seychelles islands. (with an appendix by J.J. Kieffer.) Novitates Zoologicae, 24, 121–230. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.part.23147
  26. Minh, B.Q., Schmidt, H.A., Chernomor, O., Schrempf, D., Woodhams, M.D., von Haeseler, A. & Lanfear, R. (2020) New models and efficient methods for phylogenetic inference in the genomic era. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 37, 1530–1534. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaa015
  27. Noyes, J.S. (1982) Collecting and preserving chalcid wasps (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea). Journal of Natural History, 16, 315–334. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/00222938200770261.
  28. Noyes, J.S. (2019) Universal Chalcidoidea Database. World Wide Web electronic publication. Available from: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/entomology/chalcidoids/index.html (accessed 15 April 2023)
  29. Peck, O. (1951) Superfamily Chalcidoidea. (In: Muesebeck CFW, Krombein KV, Townes HK (Ed). Hymenoptera of America north of Mexico - synoptic catalog). Agriculture Monographs. U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2, 410–594.
  30. Rasplus, J.-Y., Harry, M., Perrin, H., Chassagnard, M.T. & Lachaise, D. (2003) Les Ficus (Moraceae) et l’entomofaune des figues (Hym. Agaonidae, Pteromalidae, Torymidae, Eurytomidae ; Dipt. Drosophilidae; Col. Curculionidae) du mont Nimba en Guinée, in Lamotte M. & Roy R. (eds), Le peuplement animal du mont Nimba (Guinée, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia). Mémoires du Muséum national d’Histoire Naturelle, 190, 107–182.
  31. Risbec, J. (1955) Chalcidoïdes et Proctotrupoïdes africains. Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Afrique Noire, 17, 533–580.
  32. Risbec, J. (1957) Contribution à l’étude de la faune entomologique du Ruanda-Urundi (Mission P Basilewsky. 1953). CXXIII. Hymenoptera Chalcidoidea, Eulophidae, Pteromalidae, Eurytomidae, Torymidae, Perilampidae, Encyrtidae et Eupelmidae. Annales du Musée Royal Congo Belge Tervuren (Zoologie), 58, 148–231.
  33. Rondani, C. (1872) Sopra alcuni vesparii parassiti. Note. Bullettino della Società Entomologica Italiana, 4 (2), 201–208.
  34. Swofford, D.L. (2003) PAUP*. Phylogenetic Analysis Using Parsimony (*and Other Methods). Version 4., Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts.
  35. Van Noort, S. (2004) Fig Wasp (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Agaonidae, Pteromalidae, Eurytomidae and Ormyridae) and Ficus (Moraceae) species richness and biogeography of Monts Doudou in Southwestern Gabon. California Academy of Sciences Memoir, 28, 217–233.
  36. Van Noort, S. & Rasplus, J.-Y. (2010) Order Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea associated with figs (families Agaonidae and Pteromalidae). Arthropod fauna of the UAE, 325–355.
  37. Van Noort, S. & van Harten, A. (2006) The species richness of fig wasps (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Agaonidae, Pteromalidae) in Yemen. Fauna of Arabia, 22, 449–472.
  38. Van Noort, S., Wang, R. & Compton, S.G. (2013) Fig wasps (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Agaonidae, Pteromalidae) associated with Asian fig trees (Ficus, Moraceae) in southern Africa: Asian followers and African colonists. African Invertebrates, 54 (2), 381–400. https://doi.org/10.5733/afin.054.0208
  39. Walker, F. (1871) Part IV. Chalcididae, Leucospidae, Agaonidae, Perilampidae, Ormyridae, Encyrtidae. Notes on Chalcidiae, E.W. Janson, London. pp. 55–70,
  40. Walker, F. (1875) Descriptions of new genera and species of parasites, belonging to the families Proctotrupidae and Chalcididae, which attack insects destructive to the fig in India. Entomologist, 8, 15–18.
  41. Zerova, M.D. (1995) The parasitic Hymenoptera – Subfamilies Eurytominae and Eudecatominae (Chalcidoidea, Eurytomidae) of the Palaearctics. Kiev, Ukraine: Naukova Dumka Publishers.
  42. Zerova, M.D. (1996) On the systematic position of two eurytomid genera Eudecatoma Ashmead and Sycophila Walker (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea). Vestnik Zoologii, Kiev, 30 (1–2), 77–79.
  43. Zerova, M.D. (2017) A key to the Palaearctic genera of the family Eurytomidae (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea), with review of trophic associations. Ukrainska Entomofaunistika, 8 (2), 41–47.
  44. Zerova, M.D. & van Harten, A. (2009) Two new species of the genus Sycophila (Hymenoptera, Eurytomidae) from Yemen. Vestnik Zoologii, 43 (6), 21–24. https://doi.org/10.2478/v10058-009-0024-8