Feron clarkei ( Bassett, 1890 ) 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 : 44-49

Feron clarkei ( Bassett, 1890) , comb. nov.

Figs 97–115

Dryophanta clarkei Bassett, 1890: 69 , female, male, gall.

Dryophanta vesiculoides Ashmead, 1896: 114 , female, male, gall. Synonymized in Weld (1951: 629).

Liodora clarkei (Ashmead) : Weld, 1951: 629.

Andricus clarkei (Ashmead) : Melika & Abrahamson 2002: 162.

Types examined. One sexual female “Boston. V.31. Mass. C.H. Clarke ”, “Beut. Coll. rec’dl 1939”, “ D. clarkei Beut. ”; three pins with 2 sexual females and four males “Wtby”, “ Q. alba Phila Acad. ”, red label “ D. clarkei Paratype ”. Nine pins with red label “Type”, “Massach.”, “ H. F. Bassett Coll. ”; one pin with Bassett handwriting label “ Callirhytis clarkei Bass. Type” deposited in AMNH, NYC, examined by GM .

Diagnosis. As in F. amphorus (asex), F. crystallinum (sex) and F. dumosae (sex), sexual females have a brown to chestnut brown body, rarely darker; inner margins of eyes are 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 lateral and posterior parts, sometimes the dorsocentral part is smooth, shining, without piliferous points. Differs from F. crystallinum and F. dumosae in the transfacial distance which is longer than height of the 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. Differs from F. amphorus in the characters mentioned at couplet 20 in the key. Males are characterised by brown or chestnut body, notaulus reaching the pronotum, the mesoscutellum with irregular rugae at least in lateral and posterior parts, without piliferous points; as in F. dumosae . However, F. clarkei has F1 1.3× as long as F2 (1.6× as long as F 2 in F. dumosae ) and the transfacial distance is longer than height of the eye (as long as or slightly shorter than height of eye in F. dumosae ).

Re-description. Sexual female ( Figs 97–108 ). Head and mesosoma brown to chestnut, smooth, shining, antenna and legs light brown.

Head alutaceous, with sparse white setae on lower face, 1.2× as broad as high and slightly broader than mesosoma in frontal view, 2.0× as broad as long in dorsal view. Gena alutaceous, slightly broadened behind eye in frontal view, narrower than transverse diameter of eye in lateral view. Malar space alutaceous, shining, with delicate striae radiating from clypeus and nearly reaching eye, malar sulcus absent; eye 2.8× as high as length of malar space. Eyes slightly converging ventrally. POL 1.3× as long as OOL, OOL 2.8× as long as diameter of lateral ocellus and 1.5× as long as LOL, all ocelli ovate, of same size. Transfacial distance 1.3× as long as height of eye; diameter of antennal torulus slightly longer than distance between them, distance between torulus and eye slightly longer than diameter of torulus; lower face alutaceous, with a few white setae, without striae; slightly elevated median area alutaceous, glabrous, without setae. Clypeus rectangular, nearly 2.0× as broad as high, smooth, with long setae; ventrally rounded, not emarginate and without median incision; anterior tentorial pit large, rounded, indistinct, epistomal sulcus distinct, clypeo-pleurostomal line narrow, inconspicuous. Frons uniformly reticulate, without striae and setae, interocellar area reticulate. Frons, interocellar area uniformly alutaceous, without striae and setae. Vertex and occiput alutaceous, without striate and without white setae; postocciput smooth, glabrous; postgena in most part alutaceous, smooth, glabrous along occipital foramen, postgenal bridge and hypostomal; posterior tentorial pit large, ovate, area below impressed; occipital foramen higher than height of postgenal bridge; hypostomal carina emarginate, continuing into postgenal sulci which strongly diverge toward occipital foramen, postgenal bridge anteriorly as broad as occipital foramen. Antenna longer than head+mesosoma, extending to half-length of metasoma, with 12 flagellomeres, pedicel slightly longer than broad, flagellomeres slightly broadened towards apex; F1 2.0x as long as pedicel and slightly longer than F2; F2 1.3× as long as F3; F3 shorter than F4, F4 longer F5, F5=F6, subsequent flagellomeres nearly equal in length; placodeal sensilla on F4–F11.

Mesosoma slightly longer than high, with sparse white setae, denser on lateral propodeal area. Pronotum laterally smooth, shining, with numerous delicate striae radiating from posterior end and extending to half-length of pronotum; propleuron smooth, with few setae. Mesoscutum smooth shining, alutaceous only along anterior 1/5, with sparse white setae, slightly longer than broad (greatest width measured across mesoscutum level with base of tegulae). Notaulus complete, deep, broad, with smooth bottom, posteriorly broader and slightly converging; anterior parallel line indistinct, marked with smooth line, extending to 1/3 of mesoscutum length; parapsidal line indistinct, invisible; median mesoscutal line absent; parascutal carina broad, reaching notaulus. Mesoscutellum trapezoid, slightly longer than broad, glabrous, with net of strong irregular rugae, posteriorly rounded, overhanging metanotum; disc of mesoscutellum in dorsocentral part smooth, shining. Mesoscutellar foveae well defined, separated by narrow elevated coriaceous central carina, ovate, with smooth, glabrous bottom. Mesopleuron smooth, shining, with some delicate transverse subparallel striae; speculum smooth, shining; mesopleural triangle smooth, glabrous, with some delicate striae and sparse white setae; dorsal and lateral axillar areas delicately coriaceous, with a few white setae; subaxillular bar smooth, glabrous, with parallel sides, as high as height of metanotal trough, slightly higher in posterior end; metapleural sulcus reaching mesopleuron slightly above half of its height, delimiting coriaceous area, upper part of sulcus distinct. Metascutellum smooth, glabrous, slightly shorter than height of smooth, glabrous ventral impressed area; metanotal trough smooth, glabrous, without setae; central propodeal area smooth, glabrous, with irregular rugae; lateral propodeal carinae bent slightly outwards at mid-height; lateral propodeal area smooth, with dense white setae and piliferous points. Nucha with numerous sulci dorsally and laterally. Tarsal claws toothed, with basal lobe.

Fore wing longer than body, hyaline, with cilia on margin, veins light brown, hardly visible, radial cell open, 3.5× as long as broad; R1 and Rs reaching wing margin; areolet indistinct. Rs+M narrow, inconspicuous, its projection reaching basalis at its mid height.

Metasoma as long as head+mesosoma, longer than high in lateral view; 2nd metasomal tergum extending to half-length of metasoma in dorsal view, without setae and micropunctures; all terga smooth, glabrous, without micropunctures. Hypopygium without micropunctures, prominent part of ventral spine of hypopygium 3.0× as long as broad in ventral view, without setae ventrally.

Body length 1.4–2.1 mm (n = 4).

Male ( Figs 110–115 ). Similar to female but darker, transfacial distance subequal to height of eye, ocelli slightly bigger, POL 2.0× as long as OOL, OOL 1.5× as long as diameter of lateral ocellus and as long as LOL, antenna with 13 flagellomeres, pedicel globular, F1 slightly curved and incised, placodeal sensilla on all flagellomeres; legs lighter than in female; metasoma shorter than head+mesosoma; body size as in female.

Gall ( Fig. 109 ). Galls in terminal and axillary buds, many-celled, smooth, bare, often hidden by bud scales.

Biology. Only the sexual generation is known, inducing bud galls on Q. alba (section Quercus , subsection

Albae ) and Q. stellata (section Quercus , subsection Stellatae ). Adults emerge in early spring until May ( Ashmead

1896). Distribution. USA: MA, MO ( Burks 1979).

Figures

FIGURES 97–102. Feron clarkei, comb. nov., sexual female. 97–100, head: 97, frontal view, 98, dorsal view, 99, lateral view, 100, posterior view. 101, antenna. 102, mesosoma and propleura, frontal view.

FIGURES 103–106. Feron clarkei, comb. nov., sexual female. 103, mesosoma, lateral view. 104, mesoscutum, dorsal view. 105, mesoscutellum, dorsal view. 106, metascutellum and propodeum, posterodorsal view.

FIGURES 107–109. Feron clarkei, comb. nov., 107–108, sexual female: 107, fore wing, 108, metasoma, lateral view. 109, gall.

FIGURES 110–115. Feron clarkei, comb. nov., male. 110–113, head: 110, frontal view, 111, dorsal view, 112, lateral view, 113, posterior view. 114, antenna, part. 115, mesosoma and metasoma, lateral view.