Amphibolips nevadensis Nieves-Aldrey & Pascual

Cuesta-Porta, Víctor, Equihua-Martínez, Armando, Estrada-Venegas, Edith G., Cibrián-Tovar, David, Barrera-Ruíz, Uriel M., Silva, Salvador Ordaz, Sánchez, Imelda Virginia López, Melika, George & Pujade-Villar, Juli, 2020, Revision of the Amphibolips species of the ‘ nassa’ complex from Mexico and central America (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae), Zootaxa 4877 (1), pp. 1-50 : 22-23

Amphibolips nevadensis Nieves-Aldrey & Pascual

Amphibolips nevadensis Nieves-Aldrey & Pascual, 2012 . In Nieves-Aldrey et al., 2012: 19–22.

Material examined. HOLOTYPE. ♀ deposited in MNCN (Cat. nº 2252; Code: 89217). MEXICO, Jalisco, Nevado Colima, Ciudad Guzmán , 2300 m; Ex Q. candicans , (20.viii.2009), leg. E. Pascual. Paratypes (deposited in MNCN): 2♂, “ Nevado Colima, 2370 m, Ex Q. candicans , (31.iii.2009) iv.2009, leg. E. Pascual ” (Codes: 89218–89219) .

Aditional material. Deposited in UB with the following labels: “S066; S068, MEXICO, Monte Escobedo, Montes Escobedo, Zacatecas, (21.vii.2011) only galls, Ex Q. calophylla ”; “S243, MEXICO, Propiedad la Victoria , Barrio la Tlazintla , Acaxochitlán , Hidalgo, (07.vi.2010) only galls, Ex Quercus sp.” .

Diagnosis. This species is characterized by faintly infuscate forewings, with anterior infuscate band in females (male forewing completely infuscate with darker anterior band); lateral margin of eye with a smooth band usually emarginate by a carina; metasoma tergum II before band of micropunctures almost completely coarsely coriaceous, with some fine irregular longitudinal striae. Closely resembles A. jaliscensis (see diagnosis to A. jaliscensis ). Also closely resembles A. rulli n. sp. but differs in the sculpture of metasoma tergum II, which is coriaceous in front of the micropuncture band in A. nevadensis (smooth in front of micropunctures in A. rulli n. sp.). Galls are very similar to those of A. nassa and A. rulli n. sp.; these species cannot be differentiated by galls, only by the host plant; Amphibolips nevadensis on Q. calophylla , A. nassa on Q. castanea and A. rulli n. sp. on Q. eduardi and Q. viminea . All these galls are subglobose, very hard and fusiform at apex, ending in a defined tip.

Gall. A subspherical bud gall, fusiform at apex, ending in a tip, maximum 40 mm in diameter, outer shell thin, resistant, slightly lignified. Olive green with pale green spots when fresh and turning dark green when dry. The gall is monolocular, with a spongy internal tissue, filling the entire gall. The larval cell is rounded. Pictures of the gall are provided in Nieves-Aldrey et al. (2012: Figs 19E–F)

Host. According to the original description, Q. calophylla (= candicans ). We found galls on the same host plant.

Biology. Only females are known. The galls were collected in March; adults emerged in the same month.

Distribution. Mexico: Jalisco State.

Remarks. Nieves-Aldrey et al. (2012) confused the figure of the mesosoma (dorsal view) of the male of A. nevadensis with that of a female of A. oaxacae ( Nieves-Aldrey et al. 2012: Fig. 7B ). Herein we provide the mesosomal view of a type male of A. nevadensis ( Fig.12E ).

Figures

FIGURE 7. Amphibolips quercuspomiformis comb. nov.: (A) habitus; (B) head in dorsal view; (C) Head and mesosoma in lateral view (the arrow points to the speculum); (D) Head in frontal view; (E) Mesosoma in dorsal view; (F) Metasoma in lateral view, detail of micropunctures.

FIGURE 12. Male dorsal meosoma: (A) A. aliciae notauli (N) and internal carinae (C) signaled (white arrows); (B) A. dampfi sculpture surrounding parallel lines signaled (white arrows); (C) A. jalisciensis (Type); (D) A. michoacaensis (Type); (E) A. nevadensis (Type); (F) A. tarasco (Type); (G–H) A. dampfi mesoscutellum; (I) A. dampfi propodeum.