Kokkocynips doctorrosae Pujade-Villar, 2013

Nieves-Aldrey, José Luis, Nicholls, James A., Tang, Chang-Ti, Melika, George, Stone, Graham N., Pujade-Villar, Juli, Buffington, Matthew, Maldonado, Yurixi & Medianero, Enrique, 2021, Re-description and systematic re-appraisal of the genus Kokkocynips Pujade-Villar & Melika, (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini), including new combinations of Nearctic species and the description of a new species from Panama, Zootaxa 4938 (2), pp. 205-232 : 214

Kokkocynips doctorrosae Pujade-Villar, 2013 ( Figs. 5 , 10B and 11A )

Kokkocynips doctorrosae Pujade-Villar, 2013 . Act. Zool. Mex., 29(1): 211.

Material examined: holotype. Female (deposited in the collection J.P-V, UB), labeled as “ MEX, Michoacán, Carretera Federal Maravatío-Morelia, 19º54’22.91’’N 100º34’28.35’’W, 2391 m ” (white label), “Ex. Q. acutifolia , (08. xii.2011), 21.xii.2011 ” (white label); “ Holotype Kokkocynips doctorrosae desig. JP-V 2012” (red label).

Other material examined: 2 females, ex gall Quercus castanea , MEXICO, Oaxaca, Hunduchii. 2192 m., 08.xi.2008 . Y. Maldonado leg.; Q. castanea , MEXICO, Oacaxa, Santa Catarina Ixtepeji , 10.vii.2012 : 3♀, R. Clark leg. (MEX553, MEX 567); Q. crassipes , MEXICO, Mexico State, near to Santa Rita Tlahuapan , 18.vii.2012 , A. Equihua-Martínez & E. Estrada-Venegas leg. (only galls: S350); Q. castanea , MEXICO, Michoacán, Federal highway Maravatío-Morelia , 14.vi.2019 , JP-V leg. (only galls: C-C1); Quercus sp., MEXICO, Puebla, Tetela de Ocampo , 22.ix.2014 , A. Equihua-Martínez & E. Estrada-Venegas leg. (only galls: S435); Q. crassifolia, Tetela de Ocampo , 15.vi.2018, JP-V leg. (only galls: S505); Quercus sp., MEXICO, Puebla, Chignahuapan , 25.vi.2016 & 27.vi.2016 , JP-V leg. (only galls: S475, S476 S485).

Gall: the gall ( Fig. 11A ) is unilocular on twigs, nearly spherical, 8–10 mm in diameter, slightly flattened basally, with a smooth surface, lacking pubescence, yellowish with concentric circular red-brown lines, apically reddish-pink. The gall stays soft when mature, but not fragile. Larval chamber ovate, 1.4 × 1.8 mm, with thin walls (0.16 mm), surrounded by a sponge-like tissue, located in the centre of the gall. Exit hole usually located laterally. There is always a longitudinal crack in the bark where the gall is inserted.

Host plant: Quercus acutifolia , Q. castanea , Q. crassifolia and Q. crassipes (section Lobatae within Quercus ).

Biology: only known from an asexual generation.

Distribution: currently known only from Mexico. Originally recorded only from the state of Michoacan. New records from Oaxaca, Puebla and Mexico states added here extend the distribution of this species.

Remarks: K. doctorrosae can be easily distinguished from the other known species of Kokkocynips by the regular well-marked reticulate sculpture on the metasomal terga. Congruent with the morphological similarity of both adults and galls, this species is sister to the Nearctic species K. imbricariae in the multi-locus phylogenetic analysis ( Fig. 1 ), and forms a close cluster with K. imbricariae and K. difficilis based on cytb distances (all just over 5% divergent; Table 1).

Figures

FIG. 5. Kokkocynips doctorrosae Pujade-Villar from Oaxaca (México), female, SEM pictures. (A) Head anterior view. (B) Mesosoma dorsal view. (C) Mesosoma lateral view (D) Propodeum posterior view. (E) Antenna. (F) Metasoma lateral view. (G) Detail of sculpture on terga.

FIG. 10. Female habitus of species of Kokkocynips. (A) Kokkocynips decidua (Beutenmueller) n. comb. (B) Kokkocynips doctorrosae Pujade-Villar. (C) Kokkocynips coxii (Bassett) n. comb. (D) Kokkocynips rileyi (Ashmead) n. comb. (E) Kokkocynips difficilis (Ashmead) n. comb. (F) Kokkocynips imbricariae (Ashmead) n. comb.

FIG. 11. Galls of species of Kokkocynips. (A) K. doctorrosae Pujade-Villar. (B) Kokkocynips imbricariae (Ashmead). (C) Kokkocynips coxii (Basset). (D) Kokkocynips decidua (Beutenmueller). (E) Kokkocynips difficilis (Ashmead). (F) Kokkocynips rileyi (Ashmead). (G) Kokkocynips attractans (Kinsey). (H) Kokkocynips panamensis n. sp.

FIG. 1. Majority-rule consensus tree of species sampled from across the Cynipini, based on a Bayesian analysis of a concatenation of three loci (cytochrome b, long-wavelength opsin, and the D2 region of the 28S rRNA gene). Black stars at nodes indicate ±95% posterior probability support; white stars indicate 70%-94% posterior probability support. The revised limits of the genus Kokkocynips are indicated by the grey shaded box.