Andricus elodeoides Liu & Pang, 2022

Pang, Yin, Su, Cheng-Yuan, Zhu, Jun-Qiao, Yang, Xiao-Hui, Zhong, Jia-Lian, Zhu, Dao-Hong & Liu, Zhiwei, 2022, A new species of Andricus Hartig, 1840 (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae) from China, with references to DNA taxonomy and Wolbachia infection, ZooKeys 1134, pp. 52-73 : 52

Andricus elodeoides Liu & Pang sp. nov.

Figs 1-6 , 7-13

Type materials.

Holotype ♀; Paratypes: 10♀, 8♂♂. China, Hunan Province, Changsha City (113°07'N, 28°25'E), 2011-V-11-20, leg. Xiao-Hui Yang, deposited in Insect Collection, Central South University of Forestry and Technology (CSUFT), Changsha, Hunan.

Etymology.

The species epithet derived from Elodea , the genus name of the aquatic plants well known as waterweeds, referring to the superficial resemblance of the cluster of galls of the species to these plants.

Additional materials examined.

Same data as holotype, 3♂, 3♀ (Cheng-Yuan Su leg.) . Jinzhai (31°38'N, 115°58'E), Anhui province. 3♂, 3♀ (Cheng-Yuan Su leg.) . Wuhan (30°31'N, 114°31'E), Hubei province. 3♂, 3♀ (Cheng-Yuan Su leg.) . Suichang (28°37'N, 119°19'E), Zhejiang province. 1♂, 1♀ (Cheng-Yuan Su leg.) . Xinyang (32°02'N, 113°53'E), Henan province,. 3♂, 3♀ (Cheng-Yuan Su leg.) . Taihu (30°34'N, 116°04'E), Anhui province. 3♂, 3♀ (Cheng-Yuan Su leg.) , Qingyuan (27°44'N, 119°15'E), Zhejiang province. 3♂, 3♀ (Cheng-Yuan Su leg.) , Zhenghe (27°23'N, 118°52'E), Fujian province. 3♂, 3♀ (Cheng-Yuan Su leg.) , Zhouning (27°13'N, 119°20'E), Fujian province. 3♂, 3♀ (Cheng-Yuan Su leg.) , Guiding (26°37'N, 107°14'E), Guizhou province. 3♂, 3♀ (Cheng-Yuan Su leg.) , Shaoguan (24°59'N, 113°01'E), Guangdong province .

Diagnosis.

The new species is similar to A. mairei ( Kieffer 1906), but differs from the latter in having: 1) vertex and frons glabrate with long setae evenly-spaced on vertex and scatted on frons in the new species (Fig. 3 ), whereas vertex coriaceous and vertex and frons with sparse short setae in A. mairei ( Pujade-Villar et al. 2020: fig. 1b, d); 2) male antenna F1 strongly curved medially in the new species (Fig. 10 ), but straight in A. mairei ( Pujade-Villar et al. 2020: fig. 2b); 3) mesopleuron glabrous in the new species (Fig. 6 ), whereas with weak longitudinal striation medially in A. mairei ( Pujade-Villar et al. 2020: fig. 3c, d, but compare with fig. 3e); 4) mature galls of A. elodeoides are straight and cylindrical, fully covered with dense resinous white hairs (Fig. 14 ), whereas the galls of A. mairei are curved or strongly tapering in distal half, mostly shining smooth with an apical cluster of white hairs (Fig. 15 ).

Description.

Female: body length 2.6-2.8 mm (N = 5).

Coloration. Head area of compound eyes and frons black and gena yellow. Antenna uniformly dark brown to black, except for scape, pedicel and F1 brownish yellow. Mandible, maxillar and labial palpi dark brown. Legs uniformly brownish yellow. Mesosoma black; metasoma mostly reddish brown and posteriorly black. Hypopygial spine reddish brown.

Forewing with distinct veins R+Sc, R1+Sc, R1, Rs, Rs+M (somewhat faint basally), M, 2r, M+Cu1, Cu1, Cu1b and Cu1a; areolet distinct and small; marginal cell about 2.6-3.0 times as long as wide; all visible veins yellow except for the distal half of R+Sc, R1+Sc, 2r, and M. The distal half of M+Cu1 black (Fig. 12 ).

Head coriaceous, 1.2 times as wide as high in anterior view, nearly oval, broader than mesosoma in front view and 2.2 times as broad as long in dorsal view. Gena not broadened behind eyes in dorsal view. Height of eye about 3.4 times the length of malar space. Frons glabrate with evenly spaced long setae, with ocellar triangle indistinctly rugose; lower face and malar space glabrate and distinctly setose. Clypeus distinct and impressed; epistomal sulcus distinct; anterior tentorial pits small, but distinct; clypeo-pleurostomal line distinct. Transfacial distance slightly bigger than height of eye; distance between inner margin of eye and outer rim of antennal torulus slightly wider than distance between antennal toruli, but as wide as diameter of torulus (Fig. 1 ). Posterior ocelli widely separated from each other, ratios of POL/OOL, POL/LOL, and LOL/OOL 2.1, 2.7 and 0.9, respectively. In dorsal view, posterior margin of anterior ocellus nearly aligned with anterior margin of posterior ocelli (Fig. 3 ). Vertex glabrate, covered with scattered long setae. Gena coriarious, posteriorly with sparce long setae; postgena mostly glabrate with dense setae in outer edge. Occiput very finely imbricate and setose except medially; posterior tentorial pits distinct. Gular sulci absent; area around occipital foramen glabrous (Fig. 2 ).

Antenna filiform with 11 flagellomeres, slightly tapering toward apex; pedicel sub-spherical; relative lengths of scape, pedicel and F1-F11: 10:6:11:9:9:8:8:8:7:7:6:6:13; placoid sensillae distinctly visible on F2-F11 (Fig. 9 ).

Mesosoma longer than high in lateral view. Pronotum median length two ninth of length of outer lateral margin. Anterior plate of pronotum areolate to rugose and densely setose laterally (Fig. 6 ); Mesoscutum nearly as long as width measured at anterior tip of tegulae, with some small foveae and setae along outer edge. Notauli distinct and glabrous, lined with setae along sides, and slightly broadened posteriorly. Mesoscutellum broader than long, areolate-rugose and sparsely setose. Scutellar foveae deeply impressed and glabrous, separated by a median carina. Mesopleural triangle glabrate and densely setose. Metapleural sulcus reaching mesopleuron in upper 2/3 of its height; metapleuron glabrate with sparse setae (Fig. 6 ). Median dorsellum area rugose with dense setae. Propodeum with long and dense setae; lateral propodeal carinae distinct and parallel; median propodeal area confused-rugulose, lateral propodeal area with dense long and appressed setae (Fig. 7 ). Nucha short, width as long in height and lateral view, and longitudinally costate with posterior punctate-areolate ring (Fig. 6 ).

Metasoma 1.2 times as long as high in lateral view; abdominal tergite II 1.5 times as high as long in lateral view, laterally with anterior patch of short setae; tergite VII dorsally and VIII with long setae. Prominent part of hypopygium slender, distally not pointed; and ventrally with a row of short setae (Fig. 4 ).

Male: Similar to female, but different as below. Antenna with 12 flagellomeres, length of scape 1.25 times as long as wide; pedicel almost same as long as broad. F1 strongly curved medially. Lengths of scape, pedicel and F1-F12: 10:10:7:8:8:7:7:7:7:7:7:14. Upper face black, lower face yellow (Figs 8 , 10 ).

Gall.

Galls are monolocular and form clusters of 50-60 galls on twigs of host plant. Galls are covered with very dense resinous white hairs, which become brown at the terminal of the galls as galls mature. Individual galls straight and cylindrical (Fig. 14 ), but not curved or strongly tapering in distal half as in A. mairei (Fig. 15 ).

Biology.

All specimens emerged from galls collected from Quercus serrata . The adults of the new species appeared in early to mid-May (which overlaps with the emergence period of A. mairei ). Populations were extremely female-biased at 95.5-97.8% (while that of A. mairei were 5.4-43.5%) (Table 1 ).

Distribution.

The new species is currently known from China in several provinces in the middle to lower reaches of the Yangtze River, including Henan (Xinyang), Anhui (Jinzhai, Shucheng, and Taihu), Hubei (Wuhan), Hunan (Changsha and Shaoyang), and Zhejiang (Suichang and Qingyuan).

Figures

Figures 1 - 6. Andricus elodeoides sp. nov., female 1 head in anterior view 2 head in posterior view 3 head in dorsal view 4 metasoma in lateral view 5 mesosoma in dorsal view 6 mesosoma in lateral view.

Figures 7 - 13. Andricus elodeoides sp. nov. 7 propodeum of female in dorsal view 8 general habitus of male 9 female antenna 10 male antenna 11 general habitus of female 12 female forewing 13 the claw of hind leg of female.

Figures 14, 15. Galls on Quercus serrata 14 Andricus elodeoides sp. nov. 15 Andricus mairei.