Ormyrus capsalis Askew, 1994

Gomez, Jose F., Nieves, Maria Hernandez, Gayubo, Severiano F. & Nieves-Aldrey, Jose Luis, 2017, Terminal-instar larval systematics and biology of west European species of Ormyridae associated with insect galls (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea), ZooKeys 644, pp. 51-88 : 57-58

Ormyrus capsalis Askew, 1994

Material examined.

ex gall Aylax minor Hartig on Papaver spp., Spain, Guadalajara: Valdenoches, 31.VII.01, J. L. Nieves leg (n = 1); Madrid: Monte Pajares, 7.IX.03, J. L. Nieves leg (n = 11); Madrid: Rivas-Vaciamadrid, 14.V.03, J. L. Nieves leg (n = 1); Madrid: Valdemorillo, 13.VI.04, J. L. Nieves leg (n = 2); Valladolid: Cabezón-San Martín de Valveni, 22.VI.02, J. L. Nieves leg (n = 7).

Description.

n = 22; Body length: 1.68 ± 0.33 mm (min-max: 1.13-2.20 mm), width: 0.92 ± 0.16 mm (min-max: 0.67-1.20 mm). Body fusiform, relatively short and wide, slightly wider at the level of ABS2-ABS3, but not tapering abruptly towards ANS (Figs 3A, 5A) (Table 2); adp present from the second thoracic to fifth abdominal segment, not protruding beyond the dorsal margin of body in lateral view (Fig. 5A); integument of the body smooth; thoracic setae longer than abdominal setae but shorter than length of a thoracic segment Head 1.14 broader than long (Fig. 7A); vertex concave; distance among vam longer than SA; am situated clearly above the antennae (Table 2). On clypeus lcs as long as cs (Fig. 9A), being both situated at the same level; lll not clearly differentiated and almost merged with medial labrum lobe; posterior margin of labrum straight. Mandibles one-toothed with apex of tooth clearly sharp (Table 2).

Biology.

This species is a common parasitoid in poppy galls of Aylax minor Hartig, 1840 (Hym., Cynipidae ) (Fig. 12A and B). The species has also been reared from galls of Aylax papaveris and Barbotinia oraniensis on the heads of Papaver ssp. ( Askew et al. 2006). The parasitoid behaviour of Ormyrus capsalis is very similar to the related species Ormyrus papaveris , an idiobiont ectoparasitoid of cynipid larvae ( Askew et al. 2006) (Fig. 12C).

Notably, in some cases, we observed terminal-instar larvae of Ormyrus inside cells of Aylax minor , which apparently were not consumed (Fig. 12D).