Microgaster arctostaphylica Shaw, 2012

Hoecherl, Amelie, Shaw, Mark R., Boudreault, Caroline, Rabl, Dominik, Haszprunar, Gerhard, Raupach, Michael J., Schmidt, Stefan, Baranov, Viktor & Fernandez-Triana, Jose, 2024, Scratching the tip of the iceberg: integrative taxonomy reveals 30 new species records of Microgastrinae (Braconidae) parasitoid wasps for Germany, including new Holarctic distributions, ZooKeys 1188, pp. 305-386 : 305

Microgaster arctostaphylica Shaw, 2012

Material examined.

Germany: Bavaria: Bad Tölz, forest close to Isarstausee, 47.77, 11.547, 652 m, Malaise trap, 16.vii.2019, leg. J. Müller, ZSM-HYM-42378-F09; Berchtesgaden National Park , Königssee, Rinnkendlsteig , 47.553, 12.964, 775 m, Malaise trap, 14.vi.2017, leg. D. Doczkal, J. Voith, ZSM-HYM-33160-F10; ZSM-HYM-33160-F12; Oberndorf, close to Krebsbach, 49.868, 9.516, 342 m, Malaise trap, 13.vii.2019, leg. J. Müller, ZSM-HYM-42325-C09; Rhön Fladungen, NSG Schwarzes Moor, Kermi-Hochmoor, 50.512, 10.069, 780 m, Malaise trap, 18.vii.2017, leg. D. Doczkal, ZSM-HYM-33164-G03 ; Sweden: Gotland: Roleks; Gotlands kommun, 57.536783, 18.337883, Malaise trap, 17.vii-9.viii.2005, leg. SMTP, CNC471954 ; United Kingdom: Scotland: Inverness-shire, Tulloch Moor , ex. Argyroploce arbutella / Stictea mygindiana , 30.iv.2016, leg. R. J. Heckford, MRS_JFT0770; Morayshire, Boat of Garton NH 9319, ex.? Stictea mygdeana, 20.v.2014, leg. R. J. Heckford, MRS-JFT 0640 .

Geographical distribution.

PAL.

PAL- Germany*, Sweden*, United Kingdom.

Molecular data.

BIN: BOLD:AAH1039.

Host information.

Tortricidae : type reared from Argyroploce arbutella (Linnaeus, 1758); also Epinotia nemorivaga ( Tengström, 1848), Stictea mygindiana (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775).

Notes.

German specimens were identified by comparison with the original description and specimens from that paper ( Shaw 2012a); all specimens we examined except for one had the orange (paler) tip of mesofemur that is considered one of the diagnostic features. The species can be confused with Microgaster messoria Haliday, 1834. However, M. messoria clusters in BIN BOLD:AAV2150 (including a reared specimen ex. Aspilapteryx tringipennella (Zeller, 1839) in the BOLD database, one of the hosts that Nixon based his concept on (of Microgaster tibialis Nees, 1834, a synonym of M. messoria )). It is well separated from the BIN that contains our sequences of M. arctostaphylica (BOLD:AAV2150: within-BIN max. p-distance: 0.86%, Nearest-Neighbour minimum p-distance: 2.31%). Based on publicly available data in BOLD, M. arctostaphylica also could be present in Turkey (CGTURK-1139) but we could not examine that specimen. This BIN is quite variable (2.25% max. within-BIN max. p-distance and 2.69% min. p-distance to the Nearest-Neighbor). There is a single specimen (ZSM-HYM-42325-C09) that is 2.3% apart from the other German material and clusters with the specimen from Turkey; except for some minor differences in colouration it matches our morphological concept of the species. Future analyses and study of more specimens might provide support to consider this a complex of species, but for the time being we consider all of them to belong to Microgaster arctostaphylica . This wasp species is known to parasitise several Tortricidae hosts, all of which were collected feeding on Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (Shaw, 2012). Two reared specimens from Scotland were sequenced and clustered in the same BIN (BOLD:AAH1039), one from? Stictea mygindiana (MRS-JFT 0640), and one from Argyroploce arbutella / Stictea mygindiana (MRS_JFT0770). This species is illustrated in Fig. 31 .

Figures

Figure 31. Microgaster arctostaphylica Shaw, 2012, female (ZSM-HYM- 33160 - F 12) A lateral and B dorsal views. Length of the specimen: 3.45 mm.