Synergus citriformis ( Ashmead, 1885 )

Lobato-Vila, Irene, Equihua-Martínez, Armando, Estrada-Venegas, Edith G., Cibrián-Tovar, David, Barrera-Ruíz, Uriel M. & Pujade-Villar, Juli, 2020, Synergus Hartig species group (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Synergini) with partially smooth mesopleurae from the New World, Zootaxa 4822 (1), pp. 1-38 : 14

Synergus citriformis ( Ashmead, 1885)

Ceroptres citriformis Ashmead, 1885 . Trans. Am. Entomol. Soc. 12: 300. Type material: USNM [examined by the first author in Lobato-Vila & Pujade-Villar (2017)].

Synergus niger Fullaway, 1911 . Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 4: 369. Type material: CAS (lectotype), paralectotypes in CAS and USNM [examined by the first author in Lobato-Vila et al. (2020b)]. Synonymized by Lobato-Vila et al. (2020b).

Synergus citriformis: Weld (1922) . Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 61 (18): 26.

Synergus elegans Nieves-Aldrey & Medianero, 2011 . Zootaxa 2774: 4. Type material: MNCN (holotype), paratypes in MNCN and MEUP [examined by the first author in Lobato-Vila & Pujade-Villar (2017)]. Synonymized by Lobato-Vila & Pujade-Villar (2017: 6).

Material examined (12♂ & 16♀). New material collected in Mexico and deposited in UB with the following location data: MEX: 136, ‘La Mojonera’, Parque Africam Safari (Tecali de Herrera, PUE), 18°56’14.872’’N, 98°8’13.533’’W, Ex. Amphibolips hidalgoensis, Ex. Q. acutifolia , (iv.2012) v.2012, Lilia Ramírez-Santamaría leg.: 10♂ & 16♀; MEX: 351, Tlacotepec de Benito Juárez ( PUE), 18°41’3.84’’N, 97°39’11.88’’W, Ex. Andricus nievesaldreyi , Q. obtusata , (08.vi.2013), vi.2013, Alondra leg.: 2♂.

Diagnosis. Synergus citriformis is morphologically close to S. longiscapus Pujade-Villar & Lobato-Vila, 2017 (see below), from which differs mainly by having scape shorter than F1 and F1 1.3 times as long as F 2 in both sexes (scape long, longer than F 1 in females and about as long as F 1 in males, and F1 as long as F 2 in females and just slightly longer in males of S. longiscapus ) and the transfacial line 1.3 times as long as height of compound eye (about as long as height of compound eye in S. longiscapus ) (see the diagnosis of S. longiscapus and the identification key); also, to S. cibriani Pujade-Villar & Lobato-Vila, 2017 and S. longimalaris Pujade-Villar & Lobato-Vila, 2017 (see below), whose main differences have already been commented on (see the diagnosis of S. cibriani and the identification key).

Brief redescription. Female antenna 14-segmented, male antenna 15-segmented; F1 1.3 times as long as F2; F1 of males slightly curved and expanded apically and basally; face wide, trapezoid-shaped, transfacial line about 1.3 times as long as height of compound eyes; malar space 0.6 times as long as height of compound eye; frons and vertex finely coriaceous, without punctures, shiny; frontal carinae absent; both mesoscutum and scutellum finely coriaceous to imbricated; notauli narrow and incomplete, faint in the anterior 1/3; scutellar foveae inconspicuous or absent; circumscutellar carina well defined, upturned and somewhat projected; mesopleurae basally and medially regularly striate, speculum smooth; metasoma not dorsodistally incised, pointed and without micropunctures or just with scarce posterodorsal micropunctures not forming a true patch; radial cell ambiguously closed, 2.4 times as long as wide; tarsal claws with a basal tooth; body black and yellow. For more details on the morphology of this species, see Lobato-Vila & Pujade-Villar (2017).

Distribution. USA (states of Florida and California) ( Ashmead 1885; Fullaway 1911; McCracken & Egbert 1922), Panama ( Nieves-Aldrey & Medianero 2011) and Mexico (states of Aguascalientes, Ciudad de México, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, México, Michoacán, Morelos, Oaxaca, Puebla, Tlaxcala, Veracruz and Zacatecas) ( Lobato-Vila & Pujade-Villar 2017; Lobato-Vila et al. 2020b; and in this work, see the material examined).

Biology. Mainly associated with galls of Amphibolips on oaks of the Lobatae section, but also with woolly galls initiated by Andricus , Striatoandricus (a new Cynipini genus raised by Cuesta-Porta et al. (2020) to include some previously known species within Andricus ), and Cynips , and with other gall morphotypes (never tuberous galls) initiated by Andricus , Atrusca , Cynips , Disholcaspis , Dros and Loxaulus on oaks of both Quercus and Lobatae sections ( Ashmead 1885; McCracken & Egbert 1922; Nieves-Aldrey & Medianero 2011; Lobato-Vila & Pujade-Villar 2017; Lobato-Vila et al. 2020b; and in this work, see the material examined).

Remarks. Synergus citriformis was examined and commented in Lobato-Vila & Pujade-Villar (2017) and commented also in Lobato-Vila & Pujade-Villar (2018) and Lobato-Vila et al. (2020b).