Ceroptres kovalevi Belizin, 1973

Lobato-Vila, Irene & Pujade-Villar, Juli, 2019, Revision of world Ceroptresini (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) with the description of a new genus and five new species, Zootaxa 4685 (1), pp. 1-67 : 33-34

Ceroptres kovalevi Belizin, 1973

( Figures 4a , 6 h–j)

Ceroptres kovalevi Belizin, 1973 . Revue d’Entomologie d’URSS 52(1): 37. Type material: ZIN [examined by pictures sent to us by Sergey Belokobylskij (ZIN)].

Ceroptres masudai Abe, 1997 . Appl. Entomol. Zool. 32(1): 253 syn. nov. Type material: KPU [not examined].

Additional material of Ceroptres masudai Abe, 1997 (examined) (2♂ & 1♀). Material collected in China and deposited in UB with the following labels: ‘Quinliang Mountain, Linan, Zhejiang, 2012–09–06, malaise trap, Shijun Wang’ (white label) / ‘ Ceroptres masudai ♀ Abe, 1997 , det. JP-V 2015’(white label) (1♀); ‘ Linglong Mountain, Linan , Zhejiang, 2013–09–19 E1, 2013–11–3 emergence, Sealed feeding, Shijun Wang’ (white label) / ‘ Ceroptres masudai ♂ Abe, 1997 , det. JP-V 2015’(white label) (1♂); ‘ Yuyingzi Village, Luanping County, Hebei Province, Host : oak ( Quercus mongolica ) B, 2015–10–19 ’ (white label) / ‘ Ceroptres masudai JP-V det. 2016’ (white label, handwritten) (1♂).

Diagnosis. Ceroptres kovalevi is morphologically similar to C. clavicornis (see above), from which it can be distinguished by the shape of vertical carinae on the lower face (complete, conspicuous and slightly curved outwards in C. kovalevi ( Fig. 4a ), complete and conspicuous, but straight and subparallel, in C. clavicornis ( Fig. 11d )); the mesoscutal sculpture (coriaceous with scarce small piliferous punctures in C. kovalevi ( Fig. 6j ), strongly coriaceous with weak discontinuous transversal elements in C. clavicornis ( Fig. 5f )); and the length of notauli (complete and well-impressed in their whole length in C. kovalevi ( Fig. 6j ), almost complete, but faint in the anterior 1/ 3 in C. clavicornis ), among others (see the descriptions of both species and the key to valid species of Ceroptres ).

Brief redescription. Female antenna 12-segmented and subclavate, male antenna 15-segmented and filiform; vertical carinae on the lower face complete, conspicuous and slightly curved outwards, delimiting a long depressed area that is slightly bulged just above the clypeus ( Fig. 4a ); mesoscutum coriaceous with scarce small piliferous punctures ( Fig. 6j ); notauli complete and well impressed ( Fig. 6j ), sometimes weakly impressed in the anterior 1/3 (always well impressed in their whole length in males); median groove almost reaching the half of the mesoscutum; mesoscutellum ( Fig. 6j ) densely but weakly wrinkled, interspaces finely coriaceous. It is also characterized by having F1 about as long as F2 or slightly shorter; POL about 2.2 times as long as OOL ( Fig. 6j ); front and vertex finely coriaceous to alutaceous, shiny, with scarce small piliferous punctures; dorsal part of pronotal plate complete, with two distinct but small and moderately spaced foveae ( Fig. 6j ); scutellar foveae more or less well defined and impressed, ovate, oblique, sculptured and separated by a narrow carina; circumscutellar carina absent; mesopleuron smooth and shiny ( Fig. 6h ); third metasomal tergum with a more or less extended posterodorsal patch of micropunctures, subsequent terga also punctate ( Fig. 6i ); forewings with moderately long marginal setae and the radial cell about 2.6 times as long as wide; tarsal claws bidentate, with a strong basal lobe; body mainly black ( Fig. 6 h–j). For more details on the morphology of this species, consult Ceroptres masudai Abe, 1997 original description ( Abe 1997) and remarks section of this species (see below).

Distribution. Far East of Russia, Japan, Korea and Eastern China ( Belizin 1973; Abe 1997; Abe et al. 2007; Wang et al. 2012).

Biology. The type material of C. kovalevi was obtained from an unknown gall ( Belizin 1973) on Quercus dentata Thunb. ( Quercus section ), according to Abe et al. (2007). Also according to Abe et al. (2007) and Pénzes et al. (2012), C. masudai is associated with galls of Andricus kashiwaphilus Abe, 1998 , A. mukaigawae (Mukaigawa, 1913) and Ussuraspis nervosus (Kovalev, 1965) from Japan and Russia ( Melika 2012); with galls of A. targionii Kieffer, 1903 and A. pseudopflos (Monzen, 1954) in Japan; with leaf galls of an undescribed Trigonaspis (= Ussuraspis ) in Russia and, occasionally, with galls of A. hakonensis (Ashmead, 1904) (= A. attractus Kovalev, 1965 , = A. symbioticus Kovalev, 1965 ) ( Wachi & Abe 2010). Ceroptres masudai has been obtained from galls on Q. dentata and Q. serrata Murray ( Quercus section ) ( Abe 1997; Wang et al. 2012).

Remarks. According to the original description ( Belizin 1973: 37), C. kovalevi has no vertical carinae on the lower face and presents a weakly rough mesopleuron (‘shagreen skin-like’), which can be interpreted as a coriaceous-like sculpture. These traits, and especially the mesopleural sculpture (always partially or completely smooth in the rest of species), are unusual within Ceroptres . Furthermore, Belizin does not specify if this species has the second and third metasomal terga fused or separated, which are always separated in Ceroptres . So, we could assume that C. kovalevi is not actually a Ceroptres . However, after studying pictures of the type material of C. kovalevi sent by Sergey Belokobylskij (ZIN) and thanks to the notes on the species he provided us, we conclude it belongs to Ceroptres , since it presents separated second and third metasomal terga ( Fig. 6i ); also, because it has two conspicuous and complete vertical carinae on the lower face ( Fig. 4a ), and the mesopleuron completely smooth, in contrast with the original description ( Fig. 6h ). Abe (1997) separates C. masudai from C. kovalevi by the presence of vertical carinae on the lower face; however, both species have conspicuous and complete vertical carinae. The rest of morphological traits are identical between these two species and they have overlapping distribution areas; hence, we propose C. masudai Abe, 1997 as syn. nov. of C. kovalevi Belizin, 1973 .

The description of C. masudai provided by Abe (1997) is complete enough to characterize and differentiate the species from the rest of Ceroptres ; however, after studying some additional material of C. masudai from China and the pictures of the type material of C. kovalevi , we add here some morphological traits that were not commented on by its descriptor (see the above brief redescription of C. kovalevi ).

Figures

FIGURE 4. Female faces of valid species of Ceroptres: a) C. kovalevi (type), discontinuous lines point out vertical carinae; b) C. lanigerae (type); c) C. minutissimi (type); d) C. montensis (type); e) C. petiolicola (type); f) C. pisum (type); g) C. quercusobtusilobae (type); h) C. rufiventris (type); i) C. snellingi (type).

FIGURE 5. a) Ceroptres catesbaei lateral and b) dorsal habitus (type); c) C. cerri lateral and d) dorsal habitus; e) C. clavicornis lateral and f) dorsal habitus; g) C. confertus lateral and h) dorsal habitus (type).

FIGURE 6. a) Ceroptres cornigera lateral and b) dorsal habitus (type); c) C. ensiger lateral habitus, d) detail of mesopleuron and e) dorsal habitus (type); f) C. frondosae lateral and g) dorsal habitus (type); h) head and mesosoma of C. kovalevi in lateral view, i) lateral metasoma and j) head and mesosoma in dorsal view (type).

FIGURE 11. Ceroptres cerri a) head in anterior view, b) mesosoma in lateral view and c) metasoma in lateral view; C. clavicornis d) head in anterior view, e) mesosoma in lateral view and f) metasoma in lateral view.