Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Type: Article
Published: 2024-05-02
Page range: 517-530
Abstract views: 120
PDF downloaded: 3

Description of two new species of Sycophilodes (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Epichrysomallidae) from China with a key to species of the genus

Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology; Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Mengla 666303; China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences; Beijing 100049; China
CBGP INRAE; CIRAD; IRD; Montpellier SupAgro; Université de Montpellier; Montpellier; 34988; France
Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology; Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Mengla 666303; China
Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology; Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Mengla 666303; China
Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology; Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Mengla 666303; China
Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology; Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Mengla 666303; China
Key Laboratory of Plant Resources Conservation and Sustainable Utilization; South China Botanical Garden; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Guangzhou 510650; China
Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology; Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Mengla 666303; China
Hymenoptera Ficus non-pollinating fig wasp oriental region taxonomy

Abstract

Two new species of Epichrysomallidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea), Sycophilodes densfemur Yang, Peng and Rasplus sp. nov. and S. altissimae Yang, Peng and Rasplus sp. nov. are described and illustrated. These species are early gall makers developing in figs of Ficus altissima Blume, 1825 (Moraceae) in Xishuangbanna, China. Their biology is discussed and an identification key to the described species of Sycophilodes is provided.

References

  1. Beardsley, J.W. & Rasplus, J.Y. (2001) A new species of Josephiella (Hymenoptera: Agaonidae) forming leaf galls on Ficus microcarpa L. (Moraceae). Journal of Natural History, 35 (1), 33–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/002229301447871
  2. Burks, R., Mitroiu, M.D., Fusu, L., Heraty, J.M., Janšta, P., Heydon, S., Papilloud, N.D.S., Peters, R.S., Tselikh, E.V. & Woolley, J.B. (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 (2), 13–88. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.94.94263
  3. Chen, Y.R., Chuang, W.C. & Wu, W.J. (1999) Chalcid wasps on Ficus microcarpa L. in Taiwan (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea). Journal of Taiwan Museum, 52 (1), 39–79.
  4. Compton, S.G. (1993) An association between epichrysomallines and eurytomids (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) in southern African fig wasp communities. African Entomology, 1 (1), 123–125.
  5. Cruaud, A., Rasplus, J.Y., Zhang, J., Burks, R., Delvare, G., Fusu, L., Gumovsky, A., Huber, J.T., Janšta, P. & Mitroiu, M.D. (2024) The Chalcidoidea bush of life: evolutionary history of a massive radiation of minute wasps. Cladistics, 40 (1), 34‒63. https://doi.org/10.1111/cla.12561
  6. Galil, J. & Copland, J. (1981) Odontofroggatia galili Wiebes in Israel, a primary fig wasp of Ficus microcarpa L. with a unique ovipositor mechanism (Epichrysomallinae, Chalcidoidea). Proceedings of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, Series C: Biological and Medical Sciences, 84, 183–195.
  7. Gibson, G.A.P. (1997) Morphology and terminology. In: Gibson, G.A.P., Huber, J.T. & Woolley, J.B. (Eds.), Annotated Keys to the Genera of Nearctic Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera). NRC Research Press, Ottawa, pp. 16–44.
  8. Grandi, G. (1923) Neosycophila omeomorpha Grnd. esua importanza biologica. (16° contributo alla conoscenza degli Insetti dei Fichi). Bollettino del Laboratorio di Zoologia General e Agraria Portici, 17, 108–130.
  9. Heraty, J.M. & Hawks, D. (1998) Hexamethyldisilazane: A chemical alternative for drying insects. Entomological News, 109 (5), 369–374.
  10. Joseph, K. (1961) Contributions to our knowledge of fig insects from India VIII. Notes on some new fig insects. Journal of Karnataka University, 4, 88–100. https://doi.org/10.1080/00305316.1967.10433847
  11. 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
  12. Mifsud, D., Falzon, A., Malumphy, C., de Lill, E., Vovlas, N. & Porcelli, F. (2012) On some arthropods associated with Ficus species (Moraceae) in the Maltese Islands. Bulletin of the Entomological Society of Malta, 5, 5‒34. [https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:55192455]
  13. Munro, J.B., Heraty, J.M., Burks, R.A., Hawks, D., Mottern, J., Cruaud, A., Rasplus, J.Y. & Jansta, P. (2011) A molecular phylogeny of the Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera). PLoS ONE, 6 (11), e27023. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0027023
  14. Narendran, T. & Sheela, S. (1994) Descriptions of an interesting new genus and a new species of Epichrysomalinae (Hymenoptera: Agaonidae) from India. Journal of the Zoological Society of Kerala, 3 (1), 7–12.
  15. Peng, Y.Q., Zhao, J.B., Harrison, R.D. & Yang, D.R. (2010) Ecology of parasite Sycophilomorpha sp. on Ficus altissima and its effect on the fig-fig wasp mutualism. Parasitology, 137 (13), 1913–1919. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0031182010000727
  16. Pramanik, A. & Dey, D. (2014) Redescription of the fig wasp genus Sycophilodes Joseph (Chalcidoidea: Pteromalidae: Epichrysomallinae) with description of a new species from India. Zootaxa, 3838 (3), 310–322. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3838.3.4
  17. Segar, S.T., Pereira, R.A., Compton, S.G. & Cook, J.M. (2013) Convergent structure of multitrophic communities over three continents. Ecology Letters, 16(12), 1436–1445. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.12183
  18. Wang, R., Aylwin, R., Cobb, J., Craine, L., Ghana, S., Reyes-Betancort, J.A., Quinnell, R.J. & Compton, S.G. (2015a) The impact of fig wasps (Chalcidoidea), new to the Mediterranean, on reproduction of an invasive fig tree Ficus microcarpa (Moraceae) and their potential for its biological control. Biological Control, 81, 21–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2014.11.004
  19. Wang, R., Segar, S.T., Harper, M., Yu, H., Quinnell, R.J. & Compton, S.G. (2015b) Between-species facilitation by male fig wasps in shared figs. Ecological Entomology, 40 (4), 428–436. https://doi.org/10.1111/een.12201
  20. Wu, T., Dunn, D.W., Hu, H.Y., Niu, L.M., Xiao, J.H., Pan, X.L., Feng, G., Fu, Y.G. & Huang, D.W. (2013) The occurrence of fig wasps in the fruits of female gynodioecious fig trees. Acta Oecologica, 46, 33–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actao.2012.10.009