Abstract
We describe a new species of rose gall wasp from Sichuan, China, Diplolepis nezha Hu, Zhang, McCormack & Fang, sp. nov. (Diplolepididae: Diplolepidinae), which induces galls on the rare, endemic rose Rosa chinensis var. spontanea (Rehder & E.H. Wilson) T.T. Yu & T.C. Ku. In association with these galls, we also describe a new parasitoid species, Orthopelma aobing Hu, Zhang, Dal Pos, McCormack & Fang, sp. nov. (Ichneumonidae: Orthopelmatinae). DNA barcodes were used to confirm the identities of both new species. We provide updated dichotomous keys incorporating these taxa and briefly discuss their biology in the context of other East Asian species, informed by phylogenetic analyses.
References
- Abe, Y., Ide, T., Matsuo, K., Maeto, K. & Wu, Y. (2023) Extinction threat to a previously undescribed species of gall wasp (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) and two associated parasitoid species (Hymenoptera: Braconidae and Eulophidae) on a threatened rose. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 116 (3), 154–161. https://doi.org/10.1093/aesa/saad004
- Ashmead, W.H. (1890) Descriptions of new Ichneumonidae in the collection of the U. S. National Museum. Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 12 (779), 387–451. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.00963801.12-779.387
- Barron, J.R. (1977) The Nearctic species of Orthopelma (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae). Systematic Entomology, 2 (4), 283–299. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3113.1977.tb00377.x
- Broad, G.R., Shaw, M.R. & Fitton, M.G. (2018) Ichneumonid Wasps (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae): Their Classification and Biology. Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects, 7 (12), 1–418. https://doi.org/10.1079/9781800625471.0000
- Choi, J.K., Jeong, J.C. & Lee, J.W. (2014) New Korean record of twenty eight species of the family Ichneumonidae (Hymenoptera). Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity, 30 (2), 65–80. https://doi.org/10.5635/ASED.2014.30.2.065
- Curtis, J. (1838) n.k. British Entomology, 16, 674–721.
- Dal Pos, D. & Sharanowski, B.J. (2024) A host driven parasitoid syndrome: Convergent evolution of multiple traits associated with woodboring hosts in Ichneumonidae (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonoidea). PLoS ONE, 19 (9), e0311365. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0311365
- Fang, Z., Tang, C.-T., Nicholls, J.A., Zhu, Y., Xiong, T., Hearn, J., Sinclair, F., Melika, G., Nieves-Aldrey, J.L., Csóka, G., Mikolajczak, K.M., Stone, G.M. & Fang, S. (2020a) A New Genus of Oak Gallwasp, Heocynips Fang, Nieves-Aldrey, and Melika (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini), from China. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 122 (4), 787–804. https://doi.org/10.4289/0013-8797.122.4.787
- Fang, Z., Tang, C.-T., Zhu, Y., Xiong, T., Sinclair, F., Hearn, J., Mikolajczak, K.M., Melika, G., Stone, G.N. & Fang, S. (2020b) Lithosaphonecrus edurus Fang, Melika, and Tang, a New Cynipid Inquiline Species (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Synergini) from Sichuan, China. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 122 (4), 805–820. https://doi.org/10.4289/0013-8797.122.4.805
- Fang, Z., Tang, C.-T., Sinclair, F., Csóka, G., Hearn, J., McCormack, K., Melika, G., Mikolajczak, K.M., Nicholls, J.A., Nieves‐Aldrey, J.L., Notton, D.G., Radosevic, S., Bailey, R.I., Reiss, A., Zhang, Y.M., Zhu, Y., Fang, S., Schönrogge, K. & Stone, G.N. (2024) Network structure and taxonomic composition of tritrophic communities of Fagaceae, cynipid gallwasps and parasitoids in Sichuan, China. Insect Conservation and Diversity, 17 (6), 1046–1071. https://doi.org/10.1111/icad.12768
- Fang, Z., Hu, W., Nieves-Aldrey, J.L., McCormack, K., Tang, C.-T., Zhu, Y., Csóka, G., Hearn, J., Sinclair, F.H., Mao, K., Stone, G.N. & Zhang, Y.M. (2025) A new species of gall wasp Diastrophus Hartig, 1840 (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) from Sichuan, China. Zootaxa, 5693 (4), 524–536. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5693.4.4
- Geoffroy, E.L. (1762) Histoire abregee des Insectes, qui se trouvent aux Environs de Paris; Dans laquelle ces Animaux sont ranges suivant un Ordre methodique. 2. Durand, Paris, 684 pp. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.154767
- Gravenhorst, J.L.C. (1829) Ichneumonologia Europaea. Pars I. Sumtibus auctoris, Vratislaviae. Vol. 1. sumtibus auctoris, Vratislaviae, 827 pp. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.65750
- Hartig, T. (1840) Uber die Familie der Gallwespen. Zeitschrift für Entomologie, Germar, 2, 176–209.
- Hebert, P.D., Penton, E.H., Burns, J.M., Janzen, D.H. & Hallwachs, W. (2004) Ten species in one: DNA barcoding reveals cryptic species in the neotropical skipper butterfly Astraptes fulgerator. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 101 (41), 14812–14817. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0406166101
- Hearn, J., Gobbo, E., Nieves-Aldrey, J.L., Branca, A., Nicholls, J.A., Koutsovoulos, G., Lartillot, N., Stone, G.N. & Ronquist, F. (2024) Phylogenomic analysis of protein-coding genes resolves complex gall wasp relationships. Systematic Entomology, 49 (1), 110–137. https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12611
- Hajibabaei, M., DeWaard, J.R., Ivanova, N.V., Ratnasingham, S., Dooh, R.T., Kirk, S.L., Mackie, P.M. & Hebert, P.D. (2005) Critical factors for assembling a high volume of DNA barcodes. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 360 (1462), 1959–1967. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2005.1727
- Harris, R.A. (1979) A glossary of surface sculpturing. California Department of Food and Agriculture, Bureau of Entomology. Occasional Papers in Entomology, 28, 1–31.
- Hoang, D.T., Chernomor, O., von Haeseler, A., Minh, B.Q. & Vinh, L.S. (2018) UFBoot2: improving the ultrafast bootstrap approximation. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 35 (2), 518–522. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msx281
- Kalyaanamoorthy, S., Minh, B.Q., Wong, T.K., von Haeseler, A. & Jermiin, L.S. (2017) ModelFinder: fast model selection for accurate phylogenetic estimates. Nature Methods, 14 (6), 587–589. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.4285
- Kasparyan, D.R. (1984) A new species of the genus Orthopelma (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) from Middle Asia. Zoologicheskii Zhurnal, 63 (7), 1109–1111.
- Kasparyan, D.R. (2011) Two new species of the genus Orthopelma (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Orthopelmatinae) from Caucasus and Tian-Shan. Zoosystematica Rossica, 20 (1), 78–84. https://doi.org/10.31610/zsr/2011.20.1.78
- Kusigemati, K. (1974) Orthopelmatinae of Japan (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae). Memoirs of the Faculty of Agriculture Kagoshima University, 10 (19), 51–55.
- Karimi, S., Ghassemi-Kahrizeh, A., Hosseinzadeh, A., Lotfalizadeh, H., Riedel, M. & Mohammadi-Khoramabadi, A. (2024) Two new species and some new records of Darwin wasps (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) from northwest of Iran. Zootaxa, 5437 (4), 549–559. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5437.4.7
- Lu, Z., Qin, H., Jin, X., Zhang, Z., Yang, Q., Hong, D., Li, D., Li, K., Yuan, L. & Zhou, Z. (2021) On the necessity, principle, and process of updating the List of National Key Protected Wild Plants. Biodiversity Science, 29, 1577–1582. https://doi.org/10.17520/biods.2021394
- Liu, L., Gu, C., Li, C., Alexander, C., Bartholomew, B., Brach, A.R., Boufford, D.E., Ikeda, H., Ohba, H., Robertson, K.R. & Spongberg, S.A. (2003) Rosaceae. In: Wu, Z.Y. & Raven, P.H. (Eds.), Flora of China. Vol. 9. Science Press, Beijing & Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis, pp. 46–434.
- Melika, G. (2006) Gall wasps of Ukraine. Vol. 1. Vestnik zoologii, The Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev, 300 pp.
- Minh, B.Q., Schmidt, H.A., Chernomor, O., Schrempf, D., Woodhams, M.D., von Haeseler, A. & Lanfear, R. (2020) IQ-TREE 2: new models and efficient methods for phylogenetic inference in the genomic era. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 37 (5), 1530–1534. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaa015
- Morley, C. (1907) Ichneumonologia Britannica. ii. The Ichneumons of Great Britain. Cryptinae. James H. Kyes, Whimple Street, Plymouth, 351 pp.
- Pujade-Villar, J., Wang, Y., Zhang, W., Mata-Casanova, N., Lobato-Vila, I., Dénes, A.L. & László, Z. (2020) A new Diplolepis Geoffroy (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae, Diplolepidini) species from China: a rare example of a rose gall-inducer of economic significance. ZooKeys, 904, 131–146. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.904.46547
- Ratnasingham, S. & Hebert, P.D.N. (2007) BOLD: The Barcode of Life Data System (http://www.barcodinglife.org). Molecular Ecology Notes, 7 (3), 355–364. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-8286.2007.01678.x
- Ratzeburg, J.T.C. (1844) Die Ichneumonen der Forstinsekten in entomologischer und forstlicher Beziehung, 1, 1–224.
- Ronquist, F., Nieves-Aldrey, J.L., Buffington, M.L., Liu, Z., Liljeblad, J. & Nylander, J.A. (2015) Phylogeny, evolution and classification of gall wasps: the plot thickens. PLoS ONE, 10 (5), e0123301. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0123301
- Shinji, O. (1941) On a new species of Cynipidae forming galls on Rosa multiflora. Insect World, 45, 354–356.
- Sun, S., Zhao, T., Sun, Y., Li, T. & Pan, T. (2020) New Chinese record of Orthopelmatinae Taschenberg (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) parasitizing cynipid. Forest Pest and Disease, 9 (4), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.19688/j.cnki.issn1671-0886.20200015
- Taschenberg, E.L. (1865) Die Schlupfwespenfamilie Cryptides (Gen. V. Cryptus Gr.) mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der deutschen Arten. Zeitschrift für die Gesammten Naturwissenschaften, 25 (1, 2), 1–142.
- Thunberg, C.P. (1822) Ichneumonidea, Insecta Hymenoptera, illustrata a C. P. Thunberg. Mémoires de l’Académie Impériale des Sciences de St-Pétersbourg, 8, 249–281.
- Wang, Y., Guo, R., Liu, Z. & Chen, X.X. (2013) Taxonomic study of genus Diplolepis Geoffroy (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae, Diplolepidini) in China, with descriptions of three new species. Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica, 38, 317–327.
- Xu, T.Z. (2001) The floristic characteristics and geographical distribution of Rosaceae in Yunnan. Plant Diversity, 23 (02), 1–3.
- Yasumatsu, K. & Taketani, A. (1967) Some remarks on the commonly known species of Diplolepis Geoffroy in Japan. Esakia, 6, 77–87. https://doi.org/10.5109/2357
- Yoder, M.J., Mikó, I., Seltmann, K.C., Bertone, M.A. & Deans, A.R. (2010) A Gross Anatomy Ontology for Hymenoptera. PLoS ONE, 5 (12), e15991. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0015991
- Yu, D.S., van Achterberg, K. & Horstmann, K. (2016) Taxapad 2016—World Ichneumonidae 2015. Taxonomy, Biology, Morphology. Nepean, Ontario. [database on flash drive]
- Zhang, C.X. (2025) A new species of the genus Orthopelma (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Orthopelmatinae) from China. Zootaxa, 5666 (1), 145–150. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5666.1.9
- Zhang, Y.M., László, Z., Looney, C., Dénes, A.L., Hanner, R.H. & Shorthouse, J.D. (2019) DNA barcodes reveal inconsistent species boundaries in Diplolepis rose gall wasps and their Periclistus inquilines (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae). The Canadian Entomologist, 151 (6), 717–727. https://doi.org/10.4039/tce.2019.59
- Zhang, Y.M., Buffington, M.L., Looney, C., László, Z., Shorthouse, J.D., Ide, T. & Lucky, A. (2020) UCE data reveal multiple origins of rose gallers in North America: Global phylogeny of Diplolepis Geoffroy (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae). Molecular phylogenetics and evolution, 153, 106949. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2020.106949
- Zhu, Q., Looney, C., Chen, T., Cuesta-Porta, V., László, Z., Wang, Y. & Pujade-Villar, J. (2021) A new species of Diplolepis Geoffroy (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Diplolepidini) from northeastern China. Zootaxa, 4985 (2), 219–234. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4985.2.5