Ormyrus pallens Lotfalizadeh & Askew

Lotfalizadeh, Hosseinali, Askew, Richard R., Fuentes-Utrilla, Pablo & I, Majid Tavak O L, 2012, The species of Ormyrus Westwood (Hymenoptera: Ormyridae) in Iran with description of an unusual new species, Zootaxa 3300, pp. 34-44 : 35-39

1. Ormyrus pallens Lotfalizadeh & Askew sp. n.

( Figs 1–8 )

Female. ( Fig. 1 ) Length 2.4–2.7 mm (holotype 2.6 mm). Body yellowish white-coloured, matt, without any metallic areas, faintly brownish centrally on mid- and side-lobes of mesoscutum, axillae and anterior face of first gastral tergite (T1) ( Figs 6 , 8 ), small pale brown spot on each side of T1 and T3–T6, the following dark brown to black: central round spot on scrobal area, transverse band on occiput, small median mark on declivous face of pronotum, small spot on each side of T6, and ovipositor sheath. Antenna ( Fig. 2 ) pale yellowish except dorsal surfaces of scape and pedicel dark brown and incisures of flagellum paler brown. Mouthparts creamy-yellow with only apical part of mandibles darkened. Legs creamy-yellow, only last tarsal segments and claws pale brownish and tips of inner metatibial spurs dark brown to black. Wings hyaline, venation yellowish with parastigma, apex of marginal vein, and postmarginal and stigmal veins somewhat darkened. Setae on body whitish, those on wings dark.

Head narrower than thorax, in dorsal view ( Fig. 3 ) 2× as broad as long; temple short, about one-quarter length of eye; POL 2.0× OOL and 1.25× distance between anterior ocellus and weak occipital carina; APO (distance separating anterior and a posterior ocellus) about equal to OOL. Head in frontal view 1.3× as broad as high; malar space 0.6× height of eye; eyes separated by 1.5× their height; anterior margin of clypeus straight; lower margins of toruli very slightly above level of lower margins of eyes. Antenna with scape as long as height of eye, not quite reaching to anterior ocellus, 5.4× as long as breadth at middle, with a fine carina appearing as dark line over full length of ventral surface; pedicel plus flagellum 0.9× as long as breadth of head; pedicel in dorsal view 2.4× as long as broad and slightly longer than anelli plus F1; flagellum moderately clavate, anelli transverse, the second anellus about 1.5× as long as the first, F1 narrower than pedicel and slightly longer than broad, F2–F5 subequal in length and slightly longer than F1, F6 broader than pedicel and about 1.5× as broad as F1; clava about 2.3× as long as broad and 1.4× as long as combined length of F5 and F6, its two sutures slightly oblique and apex blunt; each funicle segment and basal 2 claval segments with a single sparse transverse row of placoid sensilla.

Mesosoma in dorsal view 1.25× as long as broad, thorax dull, finely reticulate (sculpture difficult to see on the pale non-reflective surface) with a vestiture of short setae; pronotum 4.9× as broad as long, collar occupying about half its length, rounded into the anterior face, and lateral edges strongly convergent toward neck; mesoscutum 1.65× as broad as long, mid-lobe with transverse reticulation anteriorly, notauli shallow and not reaching posterior margin of mesoscutum; scutellum with normal adpressed pilosity, about as long as mesoscutum, 1.05× as long as broad, broadly rounded posteriorly with a clear, partly longitudinally carinate lamina that is longer than the metanotum which it overhangs; propodeum 0.35× as long as scutellum, shining and smooth except for 2 weak, submedian, longitudinal carinae that slightly converge toward the petiole, spiracle oval and separated from metanotum by its lesser diameter.

Forewing ( Fig. 4 ) with a complete and partly double row of short setae near margin of costal cell on under surface, and behind this with a row of 5–7 long setae; basal cell completely closed below by a partly double row of setae on upper surface; basal vein setose and additional setae on upper surface in angle between basal and submarginal veins, and with a row of 5 or 6 setae on under surface; speculum small, not extending behind marginal vein, closed below by a dense row of setae on cubital vein and another row in front of this, its under surface with scattered setae; radial cell bare; lengths of costal cell: marginal vein: stigmal vein: postmarginal vein as 104: 62: 9: 16; stigmal vein bent in middle, its apical half gradually expanding to form a stigma that is separated from postmarginal vein by about 1.7× its height.

Gaster ( Figs 6 , 8 ) 2.2× as long as broad, 1.3× as long as head plus mesosoma and 1.7× as long as mesosoma; median dorsal carina absent; first gastral tergite (T1) with anterior face steeply sloping, its posterior part with relatively fine but strong reticulate sculpture; T3 with 2 exposed transverse bands of foveae behind which is reticulate sculpture composed of small alveolae with relatively thick walls; T4 and T5 each with 3 exposed transverse bands of foveae; T7 slightly longer than its basal width, in profile about as long as deep, 0.65× as long as T6; ovipositor sheath extending beyond apex of T7 for about half length of T7; hypopygium with tip at about 0.4× gaster length.

Male. Length 1.6 mm. Colouration as female except gaster ( Fig. 7 ) with a brown-black spot on each side of T3–T6. APO about equal to OOL; antenna with scape about 3× as long as broad; flagellum almost filiform ( Fig. 5 ); F1 shorter and narrower than F2, not longer than combined length of anelli; clava as long as combined length F4– F6, about 3.5× as long as broad, suture between C2 and C3 oblique, C3 with micropilosity on its somewhat flattened ventral surface, the area of micropilosity occupying 0.4× length of clava. Gaster dorsoventrally flattened with a weak lateral ridge on T3, oval in dorsal view, 1.7× as long as broad with 2 rows of exposed foveae on T3 and 3 rows on T4.

Type material. Holotype Ψ: IRAN, Lorestan, Taff, ex asexual generation gall of Pseudoneuroterus macropterus (Hartig) (Hym.: Cynipidae ) on Quercus brantii, 2004 (M. Tavakoli) (deposited in HMIM). Allotype ɗ: same data as holotype (deposited in HMIM). Paratypes 5Ψ: 1Ψ, same data as holotype; 3Ψ, IRAN, Lorestan, Ghelaie, ex asexual generation galls of P. macropterus on Q. brantii, 2004 ; 1Ψ, IRAN, Kermanshah, Gahvareh, ex asexual generation gall of P. macropterus on Q. brantii, 2004 (all leg. M. Tavakoli) (deposited in APC, BMNH, HMIM and NMS).

Additional material: 3Ψ 1ɗ IRAN, Lorestan, Golestan, ex asexual generation gall of Neuroterus lanuginosus Giraud (Hym.: Cynipidae ) on Q. brantii , collected 25.x.2002 (M. Tavakoli) (all damaged to some degree).

Remarks. Ormyrus pallens is very unusual in its pale, non-metallic body colouration with only a few inconspicuous dark markings. Occasional specimens of some Nearctic species which are normally metallic can be totally yellow-brown ( Hanson 1992), but O. pallens is distinct from other Ormyrus species associated with oak galls in structural as well as colour characters. Zerova and Seryogina (2006) included two species with pale markings in their key to Palaearctic Ormyridae , O. destefanii Mayr (1904) and O. oranensis Erdös (1964) , and a third partly pale species is O. monegricus Askew (1994) , but in all of these species the yellowish to brownish colouration is more or less limited in extent and there are areas with metallic greenish reflections. In addition, O. destefanii has strongly transverse antennal funicle segments and O. oranensis and O. monegricus both have antennae with three anelli and five funicle segments. In addition to its yellowish colouration, O. pallens is distinguished from other Ormyrus species associated with cynipid oak galls by the absence of a mid-dorsal ridge or carina from the female gaster. An indication of a very weak ridge is sometimes discernible when viewed under certain lights, but this is never as distinct as in O. nitidulus or O. pomaceus . Other differential features include a less markedly truncate antennal clava in the male, completely closed forewing basal cell, and the combination of OOL about equal to APO and relatively short antennae (e.g. scape not reaching anterior ocellus).

Biology. Ormyrus pallens has been reared only from cynipid oak galls on Quercus brantii in Iran. Asexual generation galls induced by two species of Cynipidae , Pseudoneuroterus macropterus (Hartig) and Neuroterus lanuginosus Giraud , have to date produced the species. Inhabitants of both of these galls in Iran are attacked by O. pomaceus also.

2. Ormyrus bingoeliensis Do ğ anlar, 1991

Material examined: Lorestan, Ghelai, v.2003, ex Chilaspis israeli on Quercus brantii, (E. Azizkhani) , 3Ψ.

These specimens were first reported as O. pomaceus by Azizkhani et al. (2005), but they appear to agree with Zerova and Seryogina’s (2006) concept of O. bingoeliensis because funicle segments 1–5 are longer than broad.

Ormyrus bingoeliensis was reared from an unidentified gall-inducing cynipid on Quercus sp. in Turkey ( Doġanlar 1991a) and here we newly record Chilaspis israeli (Sternlicht) (Cynipidae) on Quercus brantii as a host for this species. Large Ormyrus reared from galls of several species of Andricus in Iran approach O. bingoeliensis in morphology, but are considered to be a form of O. nitidulus (see below) because they could not be morphologically separated from that species and female funicle segments 1–5 have two rather than at least three transverse rows of sensilla as in O. bingoeliensis .

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 7. Ormyrus pallens sp. n.: (1) female habitus, (2) head and antennae of female in lateral view, (3) head in dorsal view, (4) forewing of female, and (5) male antenna.

FIGURES 6 – 8. Ormyrus pallens sp. n.: (6) female gaster in dorsal view, (7) male gaster in dorsal view, and (8) female gaster in lateral view.