Synergus mendax Walsh, 1864

Lobato-Vila, Irene, Equihua-Martínez, Armando, Estrada-Venegas, Edith G., Cibrián-Tovar, David, Barrera-Ruíz, Uriel M. & Pujade-Villar, Juli, 2020, Synergus Hartig species group (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Synergini) with partially smooth mesopleurae from the New World, Zootaxa 4822 (1), pp. 1-38 : 23

Synergus mendax Walsh, 1864

Synerges (!) mendax Walsh, 1864 . Proc. Entomol. Soc. Phil. 2: 498. Type material: MCZ [examined by the first author in Lobato-Vila et al. (2019)].

Synergus mendax: Osten-Sacken (1865) . Proc. Entomol. Soc. Phil. 4 (3): 378.

Diagnosis. Synergus mendax differs from the rest of species with lateral frontal carinae and metasoma without punctures addressed in this study by having the mesoscutum with strong, widely spaced discontinuous carinae.

Brief redescription. Female antenna 14-segmented, males unknown, nearly as long as the body; F1 1.2 times as long as F2; frons and vertex finely coriaceous and with some small punctures; frontal carinae very short and narrow, almost inconspicuous; mesoscutum with strong and very widely spaced carinae and coriaceous interspaces; notauli complete and well impressed in their whole length; scutellum strongly wrinkled; scutellar foveae large, shallow, longitudinally carinated and separated by a narrow carina; circumscutellar carina strong and upturned; mesopleurae basally and medially striate, the speculum almost totally smooth except for some weak striae on its superior margin; first metasomal segment smooth; metasoma not dorsodistally incised and without micropunctures; radial cell closed and 2.5 times as long as wide; tarsal claws with a basal tooth. For more details on the morphology of this species, see Lobato-Vila & Pujade-Villar (2019).

Distribution. USA. State of Illinois ( Walsh 1864; Burks 1979).

Biology. Reared from tuberous twig galls initiated by Callirhytis quercuspunctata (Basset, 1863) , probably on Quercus velutina Lam. (= Q. tinctoria W. Bartram ) (Lobatae section) ( Walsh 1864; Burks 1979).

Remarks. Synergus mendax was redescribed and commented in Lobato-Vila et al. (2019). Unlike the rest of species with the speculum smooth addressed here, S. mendax is the only one associated with tuberous galls.