Aulacidea turguti, Azmaz & Katilmiş, 2021

Azmaz, Musa & Katilmiş, Yusuf, 2021, Three new species of herb gall wasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) from Turkey, European Journal of Taxonomy 757, pp. 152-168 : 153-157

Aulacidea turguti sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:4D1AB085-3CDB-47DA-9A60-51D0A36306AB

Figs 1–2

Diagnosis

Aulacidea turguti sp. nov. seems most closely related to A. subterminalis Niblett, 1946 and A. pilosellae (Kieffer, 1901) based on the identification key ( Melika 2006). In A. turguti sp. nov. the malar space is 0.8 times as long as height of eye; POL 2.2–2.3 times as long as LOL and 3.0–3.1 times as long as diameter of lateral ocellus; clypeus trapezoid, smooth, a median incision absent; anterior tentorial pits distinct, small; clypeo-pleurostomal line indistinct; F1 1.6 times as long as pedicel; placodeal sensilla on F2– F11; scutum uniformly delicately alutaceous; scutellar foveae ovate, much broader than high, smooth, shining; dorsellum invisible or absent; lateral propodeal carinae slightly converging inwards in the most posterior part, with setae; nucha long; radial cell opened, veins R1 and Rs reaching anterior margin of wing, but R1 not extending along margin (in some specimens, vein along wing margin very indistinct, weakly pigmented or very thin pigmented, not easily visible); Rs + M of fore wing extending to ⅔ of distance between areolet and basalis; tergite 3 with micropunctures reaching anterior margin of tergite dorsally, with band of micropunctures dorsally (in a few specimens, sparse micropunctures narrowing towards lateral margin of tergite) and without micropunctures in lateral and ventral parts of tergite, while in A. subterminalis malar space 0.3–0.4 times as long as height of eye; POL 1.9 times as long as LOL and 2.8 times as long as diameter of lateral ocellus; clypeus rectangular, delicately alutaceous, ventral margin slightly incised medially; anterior tentorial pits indistinct, small; clypeo-pleurostomal line distinct; F1 1.9 times as long as pedicel; placodeal sensilla on F3-F11; scutum uniformly delicately coriaceous, with transverse sculpture; scutellar foveae distinctly elongated, much higher than broad, smooth, shining; dorsellum delicately coriaceous, medially very narrow; lateral propodeal carinae straight, without setae; nucha short; radial cell closed, however vein along wing margin indistinct, weakly pigmented; Rs + M of fore wing distinctly reaching basal vein; tergite 3 with punctures reaching anterior margin of tergite dorsally, with band of punctures lateralo-dorsally. In addition, the gall of A. turguti sp. nov is multilocular and has small oval larval chambers inside stem of H. patentissimum , while inconspicuous galls of A. subterminalis develop under leaf rosette of Hieracium spp. , more rarely on main vein of leaf.

Etymology

In honour of Prof. Dr Turgut Tok who is a senior Turcologist.

Type material

Holotype

TURKEY • ♀; Gümüşhane Province, Kürtün, Elmalı ; 40°37′ N, 39°04′ E; 1010 m a.s.l.; ex Hieracium patentissimum Freyn & Sint. ex Freyn, 1895 (Asteraceae) ; M.Azmaz and Y. Katılmış leg.; galls collected 13 Jun. 2019, 24 Sep. 2019, 11 Apr. 2020; adult emerged 20 Apr. 2020; PAU.

Paratypes

TURKEY • 67 ♀♀, 45 ♂♂; Gümüşhane Province; same data as for holotype .

Description

Female

LENGTH.: 2.5–2.7 mm (n = 9).

COLOURATION. Head and mesosoma black, antenna, mandibles and palpi brown; all coxae, trochanters, femurs brown, tibiae and tarsi lighter. Metasoma dark reddish brown, dorsally to dark brown or black; hypopygium much lighter. Wing veins distinct, dark brown.

HEAD. Delicately coriaceous, with uniformly sparse white setae, 1.95 times as broad as long from above, 1.2 times as broad as high in front view and slightly broader than mesosoma. Gena delicately coriaceous, broadened behind eye, visible ventrally behind eye in front view. Malar space 0.8 times as long as height of eye, with delicate striae, radiating from clypeus and extending to eye. POL 1.2 times as long as OOL, 2.2–2.3 times as long as LOL and 3.0–3.1 times as long as diameter of lateral ocellus. Transfacial distance 1.4 times as long as height of eye and 1.3–1.4 times as long as height of lower face (distance between antennal rim and ventral margin of clypeus); diameter of antennal torulus 2.4 times as long as distance between them and 0.75 times as long as distance between torulus and eye margin. Lower face with delicately interrupted striae radiating from clypeus and reaching eyes and antennal sockets; median elevated area without striae, very delicately coriaceous. Clypeus trapezoid, broader than high, smooth, narrowly projecting medially, median incision absent; anterior tentorial pits small, distinct, epistomal sulcus distinct and clypeo-pleurostomal line indistinct. Frons, vertex and occiput delicately coriaceous, with a few setae.

ANTENNA. 13-segmented; pedicel subglobose, 1.2 times as long as broad; F1 only 1.6 times as long as pedicel and equal to F2; F2 very slightly shorter than F3; F11 2.0–2.1 times as long as F10; placodeal sensilla on F2–F11, absent on F1.

MESOSOMA. Convex, 1.2 times as long as high in lateral view, with uniform sparse white setae. Pronotum alutaceous dorsally, very delicately coriaceous-alutaceous laterally, with few short weak wrinkles and relatively dense white setae along antero-lateral edge. Submedian pronotal pits distinct, transverse, separated by a distance slightly more than half width of a pit; pronotal plate alutaceous, delimited in anterior ⅔ of pronotum, without setae. Scutum uniformly delicately alutaceous with sparse setae, broader than long in dorsal view and 1.6 times as long as scutellum. Notauli complete, well-impressed, strongly broader posteriorly; median mesoscutal line long, sometimes reaching pronotum in form of a dark stripe, broad posteriorly and narrowing anteriorly; parapsidal lines reaching slightly above level of tegulae base; anterior parallel lines distinct, 0.3 times as long as length of scutum. Scutellum rugose, slightly broader than long, rounded posteriorly, with some stronger rugae, sculpture towards center of disk more delicate. Scutellar foveae distinctly ovate, broader than high, smooth, shining, without setae, indistinctly delimited posteriorly; separated by central carina. Mesopleuron, including speculum, uniformly, transversely striate. Metapleural sulcus reaching mesopleuron at upper ⅓ of its height; axillar carina with longitudinal striae; axillula with dense setae, well delimited posteriorly; subaxillular bar smooth, shining, posteriorly nearly equal to height of metanotal trough; ventral bar of metanotal trough with delicate wrinkles, narrower than height of metanotal trough. Dorsellum invisible or absent; ventral impressed area reaching scutellum; metanotal trough smooth, with dense white setae; ventral impressed area of dorsellum shining with some delicate weak wrinkles. Lateral propodeal carinae uniformly thick, slightly converging inwards in most posterior part, with setae; central propodeal area smooth, with setae; lateral propodeal area smooth, with setae; nucha long, with regular longitudinal sulci.

FORE WING. With distinct brown veins, margin with cilia; veins R1 and Rs reach anterior margin of wing, but R1 not extending along margin (in some specimens, vein along wing margin very indistinct, weakly pigmented or very thinly pigmented, not easily visible); radial cell open, 2.6 times as long as broad; areolet small, distinct, Rs + M extending to ⅔ of distance between areolet and basalis.

METASOMA. Longer than head+mesosoma, much longer than high in lateral view, with large hypopygium; metasomal tergite 2 with a patch of very dense white setae antero-laterally, impunctate; tergite 3 with micropunctures reaching anterior margin of tergite dorsally, with band of micropunctures dorsally (in a few specimens, sparse micropunctures narrowing towards lateral margin of tergite) and without micropunctures in lateral and ventral parts of tergite; subsequent tergites and hypopygium with dense distinct punctures; prominent part of ventral spine of hypopygium very short, with few short sparse setae not extending beyond apex of spine.

Male

2.0– 2.3 mm (n = 5). Similar to female but antenna 14-segmented, pedicel globose, as broad as long; F1 1.9–2.0 times as long as pedicel, F1 nearly equal to F2, F3, F4 and F5, subsequent flagellomeres slightly shorter, F12 1.9–2.0 times as long as F11; placodeal sensilla on F1–F12.

Biology

The adult wasps are known to induce galls on Hieracium patentissimum Freyn & Sint. ex Freyn, 1895 (Asteraceae) . Larvae overwinter in the gall, adults emerge next spring, in April.

Distribution

Only known from Turkey (Gümüşhane).

Gall structure

The gall develops on the stem of the host plant in an irregular swelling 10–60 mm in length and 20– 25 mm in diameter ( Fig. 3 ). The gall is multilocular and has small oval larval chambers inside the stem.

Figures

Fig. 1. Aulacidea turguti sp. nov., ♀. a. Head in anterior view. b. Mesosoma in dorsal view. c. Metasoma in lateral view. d. Head in posterior view. e. Scutum in dorsal view. f. Scutellum in dorsal view.

Fig. 2. Aulacidea turguti sp. nov., ♀. a. Mesosoma in lateral view. b. Mesosoma in posterior view. c. Metasomal tergites T2, T3 and T4. d. Antenna. e. Leg. f. Radial cell of forewing.

Fig. 3. Galls of Aulacidea turguti sp. nov. on host plant (photos by M. Azmaz).