Fidiobia synergorum ( Kieffer, 1921 )

details, Publication, authors, including instructions for, information, subscription, http, www. tandfonline. com, loi & tnah 20, 2010, The West Palaearctic species of Fidiobia Ashmead, 1894 (Hymenoptera: Platygastroidea), Journal of Natural History 44 (19 - 20), pp. 1131-1164 : 1151-1153

Fidiobia synergorum ( Kieffer, 1921)

( Figures 5A , 7C , 8D–F , 9C,D , 11C , 12C,D )

Fahringeria synergorum Kieffer, 1921 ; Kieffer, 1926.

Platyllotropa gallicola Szelényi, 1938 .

Triclavus gallicola: Kozlov, 1978 .

Fidiobia synergorum: Buhl, 1999 ; O’Connor et al., 2004 (misidentification).

Diagnosis

OOL 1.5–2 (1.9 ± 0.23, n = 20) times length of diameter of posterior ocellus; antenna nine-segmented; head transverse, width 2.5–3 (2.9 ± 0.12, n = 20) times length; notauli absent; length of mesosoma 1.1–1.2 (1.16 ± 0.03) times width; its width 2.7 times height; length of metasoma in female 1.9–2.1 (1.95 ± 0.06, n = 20) times length of mesosoma, 2.4–2.8 (2.5 ± 0.1, n = 20) times width.

Description

Female: body size: 0.8–0.9 (0.86 ± 0.02, n = 20) mm. Colour: body brown, dorsal part of metasoma lighter than rest of body. Antenna and legs light brown. Male antenna entirely yellow. In female A1, A7, A8 and A9 light brown, rest of antennomeres yellow. Fore coxa yellow, middle coxa light brown and hind coxa brown; fore and middle trochanters yellow, hind trochanter light brown; fore and middle femora brown, hind femora dark brown; anterior and middle tibiae brown, lighter than hind tibia; tarsi yellow.

Head transverse, width 2.5–3 (2.9 ± 0.12, n = 20) times length, and 0.9–1 (0.96 ± 0.03, n = 20) times as wide as mesosoma. In frontal view, height of head 0.9 times width. Vertex and occiput with very faint, barely perceptible imbricate sculpture.

Compound eye large, glabrous. Width of eye 2–3.33 (2.4 ± 0.4, n = 20) times width of temple. Eye height 1.2–1.8 (1.5 ± 0.13, n = 20) times width of eye. OOL 1.5–2 (1.9 ± 0.23, n = 20) times length of diameter of posterior ocellus. POL 2–2.3 (2.1 ± 0.15, n = 20) times LOL. Frons without frontal depression, with very faint sculpture, almost smooth and shiny.

Gena without malar sulcus and not striate, with very faint sculpture, almost smooth and shiny.

Mandible bidentate; palpal formula unknown, but very probably 1: 1.

Antenna nine-segmented. Antenna in female: Length of A1 3.4 times width and 2.8 times length of A2. Length of A2 1.8 times width and 2.2 times length of A3. A3 almost square with length and width equal, 1.7 times longer than A4. Width of A3 1.3 times width of A4. A4 transverse, 1.3 times as wide as long. A4 equal to A5. A5 transverse, width of A5 1.7 times length. A5 shorter than A6, length of A6 1.3 times length of A5. A7 very similar to A8, both segments are square. Length of A7 2.5 times length of A6. Length of A9 1.3 times length of A8 and 1.4 times width.

Antenna in male: length of A1 2.2 times width and 2.8 times length of A2. Length of A2 1.3 times width and 1.2 times length of A3. Length of A3 2.3 times length of A4 and 1.2 times width. Width of A3 equal to width of A4 and width of A5. A4 transverse, width of A4 twice length. A5 transverse, hardly longer than A4, length of A5 1.3 times length of A4; width of A5 1.5 times length. A6; A7 and A8 transverse. Width of A8 as wide as A9, 1.1 times width of A7 and 1.3 times width of A6. Length of A8 1.2 times length of A7 and 1.4 times length of A6. Length of A9 1.4 times length of A8 and 1.1 times width.

Length of mesosoma 1.1–1.2 (1.16 ± 0.03) times width; its width 2.7 times height.

Pronotum weakly developed, hardly visible in dorsal view. Mesoscutum in anterolateral part imbricate, sculptured as the head; in posteromedian part the sculpture is faint and the surface is almost smooth, shiny; disc 2.5–3.5 (3 ± 0.4, n = 20) times as long as scutellum. Notauli absent. Width of scutellum 2.5–3.7 (3 ± 0.4, n = 20) times length, strongly flattened, without lateral keels, smooth and shiny.

In females, length of forewing 2.8–3.1 (3 ± 0.1, n = 20) times width, 1.1 times length of hindwing, 2.8–3.1 (3 ± 0.1) times width of mesosoma. Forewing with submarginal vein terminating in rounded knob. Length of forewings 7.4 times length of submarginal vein.

Hindwing 5.6 times as long as wide, with two hamuli. Width of hindwing four times length of marginal fringe at its longest. Length of hindwing 3.5 times as long as the distance between base of wing and hamuli.

In males, length of forewing 4.4 times width and 2.4 times length of hindwing. Forewing with submarginal vein terminating in rounded knob. Length of forewing 4.4 times length of submarginal vein.

Hindwing 5.7 times as long as wide, with two hamuli. Width of hindwing 1.5 times length of marginal fringe at its longest. Length of hindwing 1.4 times as long as the distance between base of wing and hamuli.

Metascutellum weakly defined, hardly visible in dorsal view. Propodeum medially with two short parallel keels, almost glabrous.

Pronotal groove superficial and glabrous; epicnemium absent. Side of pronotum sculptured as mesoscutum, almost smooth and glabrous. Mesopleuron with a large and deep depression, almost on its entire surface. Metapleuron with sculpture with traces of irregular striae.

Metasoma – in female: length 1.9–2.1 (1.95 ± 0.06, n = 20) times length of mesosoma, 2.4–2.8 (2.5 ± 0.1, n = 20) times width; composed of six externally visible terga. Some of the last four terga may be telescoped under large T2.

T1 almost flat, without medial prominence, without striae, smooth and lustrous. Width of T1 3–4 (3.4 ± 0.3, n = 20) times length. Ratio between maximum and minimum width of T1 1.1–1.4 (1.3 ± 0.07, n = 20).

T2 smooth, shiny, glabrous, with no visible sculpture, with two small depressions anterolaterally; length of T2 1–1.2 (1.04 ± 0.04, n = 20) its width; length of T2 4.5–6 (5 ± 0.4, n = 20) times as long of T1 and 2.6–3.8 times length of T3. Ratio between maximum and minimum width of T2 is 1.3–1.6 (1.4 ± 0.07). Ratio between length of T3 and length of T4 is 0.8–1.3. Ratio between maximum and minimum width of T3 is 1.1–1.3 and between maximum and minimum width of T4 is 1.2–1.3. T6, triangular, length of A6 0.6–1 times as long as T5.

Metasoma – in male: length 1.3–1.4 times length of mesosoma, 1.5 times width; composed of six externally visible terga. Some of the last four terga may be telescoped under large T2.

Width of T1 3.3 times length. Ratio between maximum and minimum width of T1 1.3.

T2 smooth, shiny, glabrous, with no visible sculpture, with two small depressions anterolaterally; width of T2 1.3 times length; length of T2 4 times as length of T1 and three times length of T3. Ratio between maximum and minimum width of T2 is 1.6. Ratio between length of T3 and length of T4 is 2. Ratio between maximum and minimum width of T3 is 1.1 and between maximum and minimum width of T4 is 1.3.

Hosts

Synergus gallaepomiformis Fonscolombe ( Hymenoptera : Cynipidae ) on Quercus sp. ; Biorhiza pallida Olivier ( Hymenoptera : Cynipidae ) on Quercus sp. ; Aphelonyx cerricola Gir. ( Hymenoptera : Cynipidae ) ( Vlug 1995).

Distribution

Palaearctic: Austria ( Vlug 1995); Norway ( Buhl 1999b); Hungary ( Szelényi 1938).

Material examined

Norway: one female August 1994, BV: Bråtåsen, (Malaise Trap), (leg. L.O. Hansen) ; Slovakia: 56 females and 20 males 19 August 1955 B. Štiavnica (leg. Cadec) (reared from Aphelonyx cerricola ) .

Remarks

This species is very different from other Fidiobia species by having the body strongly depressed dorsoventrally. For this reason, Szelényi described this species in a new genus Platyllotropa . The material from this paper differs from Kieffer’s original description because Kieffer described the wing without veins, but it is possible that he simply missed them because they are very short and inconspicuous. All specimens examined by us have the wings with veins. Another characteristic is the vein of the forewing not forming a straight line as in other species of Fidiobia , but curved down as in species of Acerotella Masner. In NMPC , we found female specimens with eight-segmented antennae, but we consider this to be a teratological case resulting in a fusion between A3 and A4. One peculiarity in the material examined in this paper is the reduced wings of the male, especially the hindwings. In their original descriptions Kieffer and Szelényi did not describe the wings in the male.

Figures

Figure 5. Habitus in (A) Fidiobia synergorum; (B) Fidiobia polita, scale bars 0.1 mm.

Figure 7. (A) Habitus in Fidiobia hofferi; (B) metasoma in Fidiobia hispanica male; (C) metasoma in Fidiobia synergorum male, scale bars 0.1 mm.

Figure 8. Antenna: (A) Fidiobia gordoni female; (B) Fidiobia hispanica female; (C) F. hispanica male; (D) Fidiobia synergorum female; (E) F. synergorum female, teratological case; (F) F. synergorum male; (G) Fidiobia polita female; (H) Fidiobia pronotata female; (I) Fidiobia rugosifrons female; (J) F. rugosifrons male; (K) Fidiobia hofferi female, scale bars 0.1 mm.

Figure 9. Forewing: (A) Fidiobia gordoni; (B) Fidiobia hispanica; (C) Fidiobia synergorum female; (D) F. synergorum male, scale bars 0.1 mm.

Figure 11. Veins of forewing – detail: (A) Fidiobia gordoni; (B) Fidiobia hispanica; (C) Fidiobia synergorum; (D) Fidiobia polita; (E) Fidiobia rugosifrons; (F) Fidiobia hofferi, scale bars 0.1 mm.

Figure 12. Hindwing in: (A) Fidiobia gordoni; (B) Fidiobia hispanica; (C) Fidiobia synergorum female; (D) F. synergorum male; (E) Fidiobia polita; (F) Fidiobia rugosifrons; (G) Fidiobia hofferi, scale bars 0.1 mm.