Ormyrus rufimanus Mayr, 1904.

Gomez, Jose F., Nieves, Maria Hernandez, Gayubo, Severiano F. & Nieves-Aldrey, Jose Luis, 2017, Terminal-instar larval systematics and biology of west European species of Ormyridae associated with insect galls (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea), ZooKeys 644, pp. 51-88 : 69-70

Ormyrus rufimanus Mayr, 1904.

Material examined.

ex gall Xestophanes potentillae on Potentilla reptans , Spain, Madrid: Cotos de Monterrey, 24.VI.03, J. L. Nieves leg (n = 2); Madrid: Villalvilla, 26.VIII.05, J. L. Nieves leg (n = 9); Madrid: Villar del Olmo, 03.X.04, J. L. Nieves leg (n = 23); Tarragona: Colldejou, 14.VIII.03, J. L. Nieves leg (n = 7).

Description.

n = 41; Body length: 1.69 ± 0.39 mm (min-max: 1.13-2.53 mm), width: 0.84 ± 0.22 mm (min-max: 0.47-1.27). Body fusiform, abdominal segments tapering abruptly towards ANS (Figs 4D, 6C); adp strongly remarked; integument of abdominal segments smooth but with blister-like sculpture extended in part of thoracic segments; setae on thoracic segment long, not longer than length of a thoracic segment, shorter on abdominal region. Head 1.03 as wide as high (Fig. 8D); integument on the face smooth; vertex concave; an situated at mid position in the face; vertex setae equally separated than the distance between antennae; am situated at the same level of an; am short, 0.22 times as long as the separation between antennae (Table 2). On clypeus lcs situated at the same level of cs, both equal in length (Fig. 10B); lateral lobes of labrum slightly differentiated and almost fused with the medial lobe; posterior margin of medial lobe of labrum straight; mandibles unidentated; tooth apex acute (Table 2).

Biology.

This species is extremely host-specific and is exclusively associated with galls on the runners and roots of Potentilla reptans ( Rosaceae ) induced by Xestophanes potentillae (Retzius) (Fig. 15H and I) ( Askew et al. 2006). On the Iberian Peninsula, two forms of the galls were found. One form was on stems or runners close to or beneath the soil surface that consisted of round swellings (Fig. 15G), and the others formed on subterranean rhizomes (Fig. 15F).

In the first stages, the larva of Ormyrus rufimanus and the paralyzed host larva co-occurred; in later stages, the remains of the host larva appeared on the ventral surface of the Ormyrus rufimanus larva. In dissected galls, the larvae of Ormyrus rufimanus were extracted from irregularly shaped larval gall cells, which indicated that vegetal material was consumed at the terminal larval stage, as observed with other Ormyrus species such as Ormyrus papaveris . Based on additional observations, we found larvae of Eupelmus vesicularis ( Chalcidoidea, Eupelmidae ) were hyperparasitoids of Ormyrus rufimanus pupae.