Feron amphorus ( Weld, 1926 ) Cuesta-Porta & Melika & Nicholls & Stone & Pujade-Villar, 2023

Cuesta-Porta, Victor, Melika, George, Nicholls, James A., Stone, Graham N. & Pujade-Villar, Juli, 2023, Re-establishment of the Nearctic oak cynipid gall wasp genus Feron Kinsey, 1937 (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini), including the description of six new species, Zootaxa 5366 (1), pp. 1-174 : 19-22

Feron amphorus ( Weld, 1926) comb. nov.

Figs 13–24

Diplolepis amphora Weld, 1926: 17 , female, gall.

Dros amphora (Weld) : Weld, 1951: 629.

Andricus amphorus (Weld) : Melika & Abrahamson 2002: 162.

Types examined. HOLOTYPE: Asexual female “Tijeras, N.M.”, “Cut out Nov. 1.21”, red label” Type No. 27186 USNM ”, “ Diplolepis amphora Weld ” deposited in USNM, examined by GM. Specimen data and images available at http://n 2t.net/ark:/65665/302837515-1e1c-4243-9b94-f5fc71dc5d68. PARATYPE (2 females, and 2 galls) “Tijeras N.M.”, “ Quercus pungens ”, red label “ Paratype No. 27186 USNM ”, “ Diplolepis amphora Weld ”. Another seven paratypes are deposited in other institutions according to the original description.

Additional material examined. One female “ USA, Arizona, 25 miles S of Flagstaff on I17, AZ246 , galltype 71, Q. turbinella ; leg. J.A. Nicholls, 2007.10.31 ” .

Diagnosis. Asexual females belong to the group of Feron species that are brown to chestnut brown, rarely darker; inner margins of eyes parallel or only slightly converging ventrally; the frons is flat, not or only slightly bulging in frontal view; the mesoscutum is smooth or partially alutaceous anteriorly and glabrous; the mesoscutellum with irregular rugae at least in the lateral and posterior parts, sometimes the dorsocentral part is smooth, shining, without piliferous points; as in F. clarkei (sex), F. crystallinum (sex) and F. dumosae (sex). Differs from F. crystallinum and F. dumosae in the transfacial distance which is longer than the height of eye, the eye is less than 3.0× as high as length of the malar space and the pronotum with carinae going across entire lateral surface; and differs from F. clarkei in characters mentioned at couplet 20 of the key.

Re-description. Asexual female ( Figs 13–23 ). Body uniformly light brown, legs light brown; scape, pedicel, F1 and F2 light brown, all subsequent flagellomeres uniformly dark brown; mesoscutum with narrow yellowish stripe along notaulus.

Head with sparse white short setae on lower face, 1.2× as broad as high and slightly broader than mesosoma in frontal view; 2.1× as broad as long in dorsal view. Gena alutaceous, not broadened behind eye in frontal view, narrower than transverse diameter of eye in lateral view. Malar space alutaceous, with a few striae radiating from clypeus, some of which reach eye; eye 2.5× as high as length of malar space; malar sulcus absent. Inner margins of eyes parallel. POL 1.7× as long as OOL, OOL 1.9× as long as diameter of lateral ocellus and slightly longer than LOL, all ocelli ovate, of same size. Transfacial distance slightly longer than height of eye; toruli located in the upper half of head and frons shorter than lower face, diameter of antennal torulus nearly 2.0× as long as distance between them, distance between torulus and eye 1.4× as long as diameter of torulus; lower face smooth, with sparse white setae; slightly elevated median area alutaceous, with a few setae. Clypeus trapezoid, slightly broader than high, delicately coriaceous, with a few long setae scattered all over; ventrally rounded, emarginate, without median incision; anterior tentorial pit small, rounded, indistinct, epistomal sulcus distinct, clypeo-pleurostomal line well impressed. Frons, interocellar area, vertex uniformly alutaceous, without striae and setae; area under central ocellus impressed, alutaceous; occiput and postocciput, postgena alutaceous, with few setae; posterior tentorial pit large, elongated, area below impressed; occipital foramen as high as height of postgenal bridge; hypostomal carina emarginate, continuing into strong postgenal sulci which strongly diverge toward occipital foramen, postgenal bridge anteriorly slightly broader than occipital foramen. Antenna longer than head+mesosoma, with 12 flagellomeres; pedicel 1.6× as long as broad; F1 1.7× as long as pedicel and slightly longer than F2; F2 1.2× as long as F3; F3 to F6 equal in length, F7 to F11 shorter and all equal in length, F12 as long as F11; placodeal sensilla on F3–F12.

Mesosoma as long as high, with a few white setae along propleura. Pronotum smooth, glabrous, foveolate along propleuron, laterally smooth to coriaceous, sometimes with delicate parallel striae in anteroposterior part; propleuron smooth, glabrous. Mesoscutum slightly longer than broad (greatest width measured across mesoscutum level with base of tegulae), weakly alutaceous between notauli in anterior half and laterad to notauli, smooth and glabrous in between notauli in posterior half. Notaulus complete, deep, posteriorly converging and broader than anteriorly, bottom smooth, glabrous; at most posterior end the distance between notauli shorter than distance between notaulus and side of mesoscutum; anterior parallel line indistinct, impressed, smooth, glabrous, reaching to 1/5 length of mesoscutum; parapsidal line invisible; median mesoscutal line absent; parascutal carina broad, reaching notaulus. Mesoscutellum trapezoid, longer than broad, with subparallel sides, broader at posterior end; disc of mesoscutellum smooth glabrous in central part, rugose in most posterior part and along sides, with some longitudinal rugae, overhanging metanotum; circumscutellar carina present. Mesoscutellar foveae in the form of an anterior transverse, smooth, glabrous impressed area, well-delimited anteriorly and smoothly continuing into disc of mesoscutellum. Mesopleuron entirely smooth, glabrous, without setae, setae present only along ventral edge; mesopleural triangle delicately coriaceous, with sparse short white setae; dorsal and lateral axillar areas smooth, glabrous, without setae; axillula with delicate parallel longitudinal striae; subaxillular bar smooth, glabrous, triangular, posteriorly as high as height of metanotal trough; metapleural sulcus reaching mesopleuron at half of its height, lower part of sulcus delimiting broad triangular coriaceous area; upper part of sulcus also distinct, separating smooth, glabrous area. Metascutellum smooth, glabrous, as high as height of smooth, glabrous ventral impressed area; metanotal trough smooth, with a few short setae; central propodeal area lyre-shaped, smooth, glabrous, without rugae; lateral propodeal carinae strong, broad and high, bent outwards in posterior 1/3; lateral propodeal area smooth, with long white setae, each seta with rounded bump at the base. Nucha with parallel longitudinal sulci dorsally and laterally. Tarsal claws with basal lobe.

Fore wing longer than body, hyaline, with dense cilia on margin, veins brown, radial cell open, 3.9× as long as broad; Rs and R1 nearly reaching wing margin; areolet triangular, enclosed by distinct veins. Rs+M indistinct, visible on 1/3 of distance between areolet and basalis, its projection reaching basalis at half of its height.

Metasoma longer than head+mesosoma, rounded, higher than long in lateral view; 2nd metasomal tergum smooth, extending to 2/3 length of metasoma in dorsal view, with patch of dense white setae anterolaterally, without micropunctures; all subsequent terga and hypopygium smooth, without micropunctures; prominent part of ventral spine of hypopygium 5.2× as long as broad in ventral view, with a few short white setae ventrally.

Body length 1.4–2.2 mm (n = 31) ( Weld 1926).

Gall ( Fig. 24 ). The gall is on the underside of leaf, either side of midrib but not on it, red, reddish-purple or brownish, with pale brown apical dimple, 3 mm in diameter, 4–5 mm height, the hole at apex about 1 mm in diameter, surface with very short pilosity. A hollow cylinder, with a short petiole at the base, swollen more or less in the middle and tapering to the apex at which there is a small hole leading into a deep cavity at the bottom of which is the thin-walled larval cell ( Weld 1926).

Biology. Only the asexual generation is known which induces galls on Q. arizonica , Q. oblongifolia and Q. turbinella (section Quercus , subsection Leucomexicana),and Q. pungens (section Quercus ,subsection Polymorphae). Galls mature in autumn, drop with leaves.

Distribution. USA: Arizona, New Mexico.

Figures

FIGURES 13–18. Feron amphorus, comb. nov., asexual female. 13–16, head: 13, frontal view, 14, dorsal view, 15, lateral view, 16, posterior view. 17, antenna. 18, mesosoma and propleura, frontal view.

FIGURES 19–22. Feron amphorus, comb. nov., asexual female. 19, mesosoma, lateral view. 20, mesoscutum, dorsal view. 21, mesoscutellum, dorsal view. 22, metascutellum and propodeum, posterodorsal view.

FIGURES 23–24. Feron amphorus, comb. nov.. 23, asexual female, metasoma, lateral view. 24, galls (image courtesy of R. Russo).