Ceroptres lanigerae Ashmead, 1885

Lobato-Vila, Irene & Pujade-Villar, Juli, 2019, Revision of world Ceroptresini (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) with the description of a new genus and five new species, Zootaxa 4685 (1), pp. 1-67 : 34-35

Ceroptres lanigerae Ashmead, 1885

( Figures 4b ; 7a, b )

Ceroptres lanigerae Ashmead, 1885 . Trans. Am. Ent. Soc. 12: 301. Type material: USNM.

Type material (examined). LECTOTYPE (♀) with the following labels: ‘Jacksnville Fla’ (white label) / ‘Col April 1881, C. Lanigen’ (white label, handwritten) / ‘ Ceroptres lanigerae ♀ Ashm, Type’ (white label, handwritten) / ‘ Lectotype ♀ Ceroptres lanigerae Ashmead, 1885 , IL-V desig-2019’ (red label).

Diagnosis. This species can be separated from the rest of Ceroptres by having the head in anterior view subtriangular-shaped (round or trapezoid-shaped, rarely quadrangular, in the rest of species); malar space very short, about 0.3 times as long as height of compound eye (longer in the rest of species); and circumscutellar carina weak, but visible (always absent in the rest of species).

Redescription. Female. Length. Body length 1.8 mm (n=1).

Color (4b; 7a, b). Reddish brown. Head and mesosoma reddish brown; tegulae yellow. Antennae and legs, yellow. Metasoma reddish brown, darker posteriorly. Wings hyaline, veins pale.

Head. In anterior ( Fig. 4b ) view subtriangular-shaped, about 1.2 times as wide as high, genae not expanded behind compound eyes. Face faintly pubescent, lower face with long striae radiating from sides of clypeus, reaching the base of compound eyes and almost the toruli; medially without striae; vertical carinae weak and incomplete, short, running just a little from inner ventral margin of the toruli and delimiting a small depressed area. Clypeus distinct, ventral margin not projected over mandibles. Malar space short, about 0.3 times as long as height of compound eye. Anterior tentorial pits visible; pleurostomal sulcus absent, epistomal sulcus slightly impressed. Transfacial line about 0.8 times as long as height of compound eye. Toruli situated mid-height of compound eyes; distance between torulus and compound eye about as long as diameter of the toruli; distance between the toruli shorter than diameter of the toruli. Front alutaceous, with neither punctures nor frontal carinae. Head in dorsal view ( Fig. 7b ) is about 2.0 times as wide as long (43/22). Vertex alutaceous, with some scarce small piliferous punctures. POL:OOL:LOL = 12:5:5 and diameter of lateral ocelli, 3.5. Occiput alutaceous, with some scarce small piliferous punctures.

Antennae ( Fig. 7a ). 12-segmented; subclavate, just slightly broadened apically; pubescence dense and short. Scape plus pedicel about 1.3 times as long as F1; pedicel about as long as wide; F1 about as long as F2, F2 and F3 subequal, the following segments progressively shorter. Last flagellar segment 2.8 times as long as wide and 2.2 times as long as F9.

Mesosoma. About 1.2 times as long as high in lateral view ( Fig. 7a ), including nucha, with short and not dense pubescence. Ratio of length of pronotum medially/laterally: 0.43. Dorsal part of pronotal plate complete, with two distinct foveae. Lateral pronotum alutaceous, without lateral carina. Mesoscutum ( Fig. 7b ) about 1.2 times as wide as long, finely coriaceous to alutaceous, posteriorly with very small and scarce piliferous punctures; anterior grooves inconspicuous. Notauli incomplete, very narrow and shallow, reaching at most the half of the mesoscutum, wider posteriorly. Parapsidal grooves inconspicuous. Median groove absent or very short and shallow in a form of short incision. Mesoscutellum ( Fig. 7b ) rounded, about as long as wide, strongly wrinkled; circumscutellar carina weak, but visible; scutellar foveae small, more or less circular, shallow, not well defined posteriorly and separated by a narrow carina. Mesopleuron ( Fig. 7a ) smooth and shiny; little pubescent basally. Metapleural sulcus reaching about 3/4 parts of the mesopleural height. Propodeum pubescent and alutaceous; propodeal carinae straight and parallel. Nucha weakly sculptured dorsally and laterally, not sulcate.

Legs. Tarsal claws bidentate, with a basal lobe.

Wings ( Fig. 7a ). Forewings pubescent with short marginal setae, slightly longer than total body length. Radial cell closed, about 2.7 times as long as wide; areolet not well defined, anterior and basal veins inconspicuous. Rs+M inconspicuous. Basal cell with sparsely spaced setae.

Metasoma ( Fig. 7a ). Slightly shorter than head plus mesosoma and about as long as high in lateral view. First metasomal tergum crescent-shaped and smooth. Second metasomal tergum short and free, about 0.3 times as long as the metasomal length and faintly pubescent anterolaterally. Third metasomal tergum without punctures; not dorsodistally incised; following terga very finely punctate. Prominent part of the hypopygial spine about as long as wide and slightly projected.

Male. Not examined (presumably unknown or lost).

Distribution. USA. Jacksonville, state of Florida ( Ashmead 1885; Burks 1979).

Biology. Reared from galls of Andricus quercuslanigera (Ashmead, 1881) ( Ashmead 1885) (= A. linaria (Kinsey, 1937) , according to Pujade-Villar et al. 2016), which produces leaf woolly galls on Quercus minima (Sarg.) Small , Q. oleoides Schltdl. & Cham. and Q. virginiana Mill. (= Q. geminata Small ) ( Quercus section ) according to Pujade-Villar et al. (2016).

Remarks. Ceroptres lanigerae was originally described from an unstated number of specimens ( Ashmead 1885: 301). We located and examined 1♀ deposited in USNM. Based on Ashmead’s description, there could be more specimens belonging to the type series, including males (even though Ashmead does not mention anything about males of this species in the original description).

Also, according to the original description, females of this species have 13-segmented antennae; however, the female examined has 12-segmented antennae.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Female faces of valid species of Ceroptres: a) C. kovalevi (type), discontinuous lines point out vertical carinae; b) C. lanigerae (type); c) C. minutissimi (type); d) C. montensis (type); e) C. petiolicola (type); f) C. pisum (type); g) C. quercusobtusilobae (type); h) C. rufiventris (type); i) C. snellingi (type).

FIGURE 7. a) Ceroptres lanigerae lateral and b) dorsal habitus (type); c) C. minutissimi lateral and d) dorsal habitus (type); e) C. montensis lateral and f) dorsal habitus (type); g) C. petiolicola lateral habitus, h) forewing and i) detail of mesoscutuellum and propodeum (type).