Gonatocerus (Cosmocomoidea) ashmeadi Girault, 1915

Triapitsyn, Serguei V., Huber, John T., Logarzo, Guillermo A., Berezovskiy, Vladimir V. & Aquino, Daniel A., 2010, Review of Gonatocerus (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) in the Neotropical region, with description of eleven new species, Zootaxa 2456, pp. 1-243 : 107-109

Gonatocerus (Cosmocomoidea) ashmeadi Girault, 1915

( Fig. 195 )

Gonatocerus dolichocerus var. ashmeadi Girault 1915b: 8 . Lectotype female [USNM], designated by Huber 1988: 53 – 54 (not examined). Type locality: an unspecified locality in Texas, USA.

Gonatocerus ashmeadi Girault: Girault 1929 : 25; Peck 1951: 411 (catalog); Burks 1979: 1025 (catalog); Huber 1988: 53 –55 (references, lectotype designation, redescription, diagnosis, distribution including mentioning of specimens from Mexico and Venezuela, host associations); Yoshimoto 1990: 39 (list, ater species group); De Santis & Fidalgo 1994: 124 (catalog); Triapitsyn et al. 1998: 241 –242 (distribution, host associations); Triapitsyn, Bezark et al. 2002: 38 –39 (distribution, host associations); Irvin & Hoddle 2004: 504–509 (biology); Vickerman et al. 2004: 338 –344 (biological, morphological, and molecular distinction between populations; distribution); de León 2005: 298–300 (molecular data on specimens from California, USA); Irvin & Hoddle 2005a: 391 –399 (biology); Irvin & Hoddle 2005b: 204 –213 (biology); de León et al. 2006a: 42 (molecular data); de León et al. 2006d: 54 (molecular data); de León et al. 2006e: 57–58 (molecular data); de León & Morgan 2006: 61 (molecular data); Irvin et al. 2006: 359 –373 (larval morphology, competition studies); Pilkington & Hoddle 2006: 266 –274 (biology); Triapitsyn et al. 2006: 60– 62 (illustrations, comparison with G. (Cosmocomoidea) uat Triapitsyn ); Triapitsyn 2006a: 24–27 (taxonomic history, references subsequent to Huber (1988), diagnosis, illustrations, distribution, host associations); de León & Morgan 2007: 83 (molecular data); Chen et al. 2008: 1760 –1768 (cold storage, biology); de León et al. 2008: 99, 104–105 (molecular data); Krugner et al. 2008: 8 –14 (biology); Irvin & Hoddle 2009: 125 –131 (biology).

Lymaenon ashmeadi (Girault) : Burks 1958: 63 (catalog [not listed but a new combination proposed referring to the previous listing in Peck (1951)]); Turner & Pollard 1959: 26 (host associations); Peck 1963: 21 (catalog).

Material examined. VENEZUELA. MÉRIDA, Santa Rosa , 1900 m, 15.vi–15.vii.1981, F. Suárez, A. Briceño [3 ♀, CNCI].

Redescription. See Huber (1988). We do not provide a detailed redescription because only 3 specimens from the Neotropical region are available.

Diagnosis. Gonatocerus (Cosmocomoidea) ashmeadi is a member of the ater subgroup of the ater species group. Body length (female) 1280–1760 µm. Head and mesosoma generally dark brown, legs and gaster mostly yellow with brown bands on gastral terga; gaster may be almost completely dark brown in some males. Female antenna ( Fig. 195 ) with mps present on F2–F8, F1 without mps. Mesosomal sternum with a distinct, well-defined yellow streak on mesosternum between each pro- and mesocoxae. Submedian carinae on the propodeum thick, distinct, extending to the dorsellum. Forewing hyaline or at most with a faint, uniform brownish tinge; cubital row of setae on the forewing disc complete, extending to base of the marginal vein. Gonatocerus ashmeadi is very similar to G. (Cosmocomoidea) uat Triapitsyn (particularly in body color), from which it can be distinguished by the characters indicated in the key. Triapitsyn et al. (2006) also provided molecular evidence of the clear separation between G. ashmeadi and G. uat .

Distribution. NEOTROPICAL: Venezuela. NEARCTIC: Mexico (Nuevo León and Tamaulipas), and USA (Triapitsyn 2006a). OCEANIA: Self-introduced (likely together with the host) to Oahu Island, Hawaiian Islands (Hawaii, USA), where it provides good control of Homalodisca vitripennis (Germar) , and also to Easter Island, Chile (which is only politically, but not biogeographically part of the Neotropical region), probably from French Polynesia together with its host, H. vitripennis (Triapitsyn 2006a) ; intentionally and successfully introduced to Tahiti for biological control against H. vitripennis ( Grandgirard et al. 2008, 2009), from where it quickly spread to some other parts of French Polynesia (Petit et al. 2009).

Hosts. Cuerna costalis (Fabricius) , Homalodisca liturata Ball , H. vitripennis (Germar) , Oncometopia clarior (Walker) , O. orbona (Fabricius) , and Oncometopia sp. ( Cicadellidae ) (Triapitsyn 2006a).

Biological traits of G. ashmeadi are well known (Irvin & Hoddle 2004, 2005a, 2005b, 2009; Irvin et al. 2006; Pilkington & Hoddle 2006; Chen et al. 2008; Krugner et al. 2008).

Figures

FIGURE 195. Gonatocerus (Cosmocomoidea) ashmeadi ♀ (Santa Rosa, Mérida, Venezuela): antenna.