Eurytoma sp. nr dentata Mayr, 1878

Dorchin, Netta, Mifsud, David & Askew, Richard, 2014, Saltbush-associated Asphondylia species (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) in the Mediterranean Basin and their chalcidoid parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea), Zootaxa 3869 (4), pp. 383-396 : 391

Eurytoma sp. nr dentata Mayr, 1878

(Chalcidoidea: Eurytomidae )

Eurytoma dentata is known as a parasitoid of Asphondylia spp. , nine of which (plus one Contarinia species ) are listed as hosts by Noyes (2012). Mayr (1878) had specimens reared from galls of Asphondylia sarothamni Loew and A. verbasci Vallot on Cytisus and Verbascum respectively, and from seed-pods of Lotus , Medicago , Genista and Coronilla . Material of E. dentata , available for comparison with the Maltese specimens, was reared from galls of A. verbasci on Verbascum sinuatum from Crete, Cyprus and Turkey (leg. M. Boness), A. punica Marchal on Atriplex halimus from Cyprus (M. Boness) and A. sarothamni on Cytisus scoparius from Germany (M. Boness). Eurytoma dentata has a broad distribution covering most of Europe and is known from the Caucasus, Central Asia and India east to the Phillipines. An account of the biology of E. dentata (under its synonym E. nesiotes Crawford ), as an ectoparasitoid of Asphondylia sesami Felt on Sesamum indicum , is given by Tiwari (1974).

Material examined. 4♂ 4♀, Malta, Migra Ferħa, 5–25.v.2012, D. Mifsud, emerged 10–16.vi.2012 from galls of Asphondylia scopuli on Atriplex lanfrancoi ; 2♂ 6♀, same data, emerged 20–30.vi.2012, deposited in the private collections of DM & RA.

Compared with E. dentata associated with Asphondylia galls on Cytisus and Verbascum , the specimens reared from Atriplex lanfrancoi are small, the mesepisternal tooth is relatively low and less sharply pointed, and the male antennal funicle segments have rather long apical petioles. In addition, the antennal scape is entirely pale in females and very broadly pale basally in males, whereas in specimens of E. dentata from Cytisus , Viburnum and Atriplex halimus the scape has very little, if any, pale coloration. These differences prevent a positive identification of the Maltese material as E. dentata . The generic placement of E. dentata and allied species, currently considered to belong to Eurytoma , is unresolved ( Lotfalizadeh et al. 2007).