Fidiobia hispanica Popovici & Buhl, 2010

Popovici, Ovidiu Alin, Masner, Lubomir, Lahey, Zachary & Talamas, Elijah, 2022, Revision of the Palearctic species of Fidiobia Ashmead (Hymenoptera, Platygastroidea), Journal of Hymenoptera Research 92, pp. 23-144 : 23

9. Fidiobia hispanica Popovici & Buhl, 2010

Figs 92-98 , 99-102 , 306

Fidiobia hispanica Popovici & Buhl, 2010: 1149; Notton et al. 2014: 2.

Description.

Female. Body length: 0.7-0.9 mm. Colour of body: melanic (Fig. 92 ).

Head (Figs 93 , 94 ). Colour of head: brown. Sculpture of head: alutaceous. Sculpture of occiput: transverse alutaceous. Ocellar prominence: absent. Preocellar depression: present. Paraocellar depressions: present. OOL / ocellar diameter: OOL around 3 times ocellar diameter. Orientation of lower half of inner orbits: visibly divergent. Sculpture of frons immediately anterior to ocellus: absent. Sculpture of frons immediately dorsal to toruli: absent. Epitorular carina: absent. Distance between toruli: equal to the transverse diameter of torulus. Setation of clypeus: two setae. Malar sulcus: absent. Antenna (Fig. 95a ). Colour of A1: brown. Colour of clava: almost similar to the rest of the antenna. Number of antennomeres: ten. Shape of A1: more or less cylindrical. Ventral (inner) lamella on A1: present as a trace in the apical part of A1. Length of A3 of female: distinctly shorter than A2. Sensillar formula (A8:A9:A10): 1:1:1 (Fig. 95b ).

Mesosoma (Fig. 92 ). Colour of mesosoma: light brown. Mesosoma: strongly compressed dorsoventrally. Pronotum in dorsal view: narrow, collarlike. Transverse pronotal sulcus: present as a narrow groove along anterior rim of pronotum. Posteroventral end of transverse pronotal sulcus: not dilated. Lateral pronotal area: sculptured only on the dorsal half. Antero-admedian line: absent. Mesoscutum: flat. Parapsidal lines: absent. Sculpture of internotaular area: absent. Notauli: absent. Shape of notauli: NA. Outer edge of notauli: NA. Orientation of inner edge of notauli: NA. Length of notauli: NA. Length of notaulus / maximum width of notaulus: NA. Distance between notauli: NA. Transscutal articulation: complete. Scuto-scutellar sulcus: absent. Fovea on scuto-scutellar sulcus: NA. Mesoscutellum: flat. Shape of mesoscutellum: semicircular. Axillular carina: posterior apex of axillular carinae touching the posterior edge of mesoscutellum. Axilloaxillular carina: absent. Sculpture of mesoscutellum: absent. Posterior mesoscutellar sulcus: absent. Metascutellum: visible, partially covered by mesoscutellum. Metascutellar carina: present. Width of metasomal depression: the same with the length of lateral propodeal carina. Median carina between lateral propodeal carinae: absent. Transverse carina between lateral propodeal carinae: present. Foamy structure on transverse carina between lateral propodeal carinae: absent. Foamy structure on metasomal depression: absent. Lateral propodeal carinae: hardly divergent anteriorly. Foamy structure on lateral propodeal carina: present on the entire carina, or only in posterior half. Plica: not visible. Posterior end of plica: NA. Foamy structure on plica: NA. Foamy structure on metapleural carina: absent. Foamy structure on ventral metapleural area: absent. Setation of dorsal metapleural area: sparse, short setae on posterodorsal half. Setation of ventral metapleural area: sparse, short setae on posteroventral half. Longitudinal striation on dorsal mesopleuron: absent. Transepisternal line: absent. Mesopleural carina: present. Metapleural sulcus: present, complete. Wings (Figs 97a, b ): macropterous. Apex of fore wing: rounded. Colour of fore wing: transparent. Transverse brown band on fore wing: absent. Submarginal vein in fore wing: present. Length of submarginal vein in fore wing: not surpassing basal 1/4 of fore wing. Spectral veins on fore wing: absent. Marginal setae of fore wing: present, well visible. Disc of fore wing: with spinulose microtrichia. Legs. Colour of fore tibia: brown. Colour of fore tarsus: yellow. Colour of middle femora: brown. Colour of middle tibiae: brown. Colour of middle tarsus: yellow. Colour of hind femora: brown. Colour of hind tibiae: brown. Colour of hind tarsus: yellow.

Metasoma (Fig. 92 ): Tergites posterior of T2 may be retracted under T2. Shape of T1: subrectangular. Colour of T1: brown. Lateral setae of T1: 3 pairs. Colour of T2: brown. Shape of T2: longer than wide. Anterior pits of T2: distinctly separated. Sculpture of T2, lateral to anterior pits of T2: absent. Colour of T3-T6: T3-T5 the same as T2, T6 lighter than T2.

Male (Fig. 101 ): Similar to female, differing in the structure of the antenna and in some metasomal characters (see Popovici and Buhl 2010).

Material examined.

22♀ and 3♂. Spain: Holotype (Fig. 99 ) : 1♀, Pina de Ebro , Pine / Juniper forest, leg. J. Blasco Zumeta (Fig. 77 ) (ZMUC) . Paratypes: 1♀, Pina de Ebro , UTM30TYL2894 (41.5207°N, - 0.5055°E), 9.iii.1991, leg. Zumeta B. (OPPC 0801) ; 1♀, Pina de Ebro , UTM30TYL2894 (41.5207°N, - 0.5055°E), 9.iii.1991, leg. Zumeta B. (Fig. 75 ) (ZMUC) ; 1♂, Pina de Ebro , UTM30TYL2894 (41.5207°N, - 0.5055°E), 9.iii.1991, leg. Zumeta B. (Fig. 101 ) (ZMUC) .

Non-type material.

England: 16♀ and 3♂, London, Greenwich, Vanbrugh Pits, reared from a batch of beetle eggs in vacated Andricus lignicola (Hartig, 1840) gall on Quercus robur Linnaeus, 1753, (gall collected 17.i.2010, Notton D.G.) (BMNH); 5♀, London, Greenwich, Vanbrugh Pits, TQ397771 (51.4758°N, 0.0111°E), reared from a batch of beetle eggs in a vacated cell of Synergus umbraculus (Olivier, 1791) in an old Andricus kollari (Hartig, 1843) gall on Quercus robur , (gall collected 14.iii.2010, Notton D.G.) (BMNH).

Distribution.

Spain, Ireland, England ( Popovici and Buhl 2010; Notton et al. 2014) (Fig. 306 ).

Biology.

Popovici and Buhl (2010) reported Andricus lignicola (Hartig) ( Hymenoptera : Cynipidae ) on Quercus as the host of F. hispanica , as it was in O’Connor et al. (2004). Notton et al. (2014) observed that, in fact, F. hispanica , was reared from beetle eggs found in a vacated gall of Andricus lignicola (Fig. 98 ) on Quercus robur and from beetle eggs found in a vacated Synergus umbraculus (Olivier) cell in a vacated Andricus kollari (Hartig) gall. For this reason, we consider it likely that the true host is a beetle and not a cynipoid as mentioned in Popovici and Buhl (2010).

Diagnosis.

The small size and delicate exoskeleton of F. hispanica make this species unmistakable among the Palearctic species with 10-merous antennae. The habitus is somewhat similar to that of F. synergorum and these species have been previously confused ( Buhl 1999b; O’Connor et al. 2004). The main differences between them are the number of antennomeres (10 in F. hispanica and 9 in F. synergorum ) and the ratio between the width and height of the mesosoma in females (1.6 in F. hispanica and 2.7 in F. synergorum ), the transverse carina between the lateral propodeal carinae (present in F. hispanica and absent in F. synergorum ) and the structure of the metasoma in males (presented in Popovici and Buhl 2010). The 1:1:1 sensillar formula (Fig. 95b ) is unique among the Palearctic species of Fidiobia in which this character has been observed.

Figures

Figures 92 - 98. Fidiobia hispanica: 92 habitus, dorsal view (BMNH _ 01) 93 head, dorsal view 94 head, frontal view 95 a antenna (♀) 95 b sensillar formula 96 antenna (♂) 97 a wings 97 b WIP 98 gall of Andricus lignicola.

Figures 99 - 102. Types of Fidiobia hispanica: 99 Holotype ♀ 100 Paratype ♀ 101 Paratype ♂ 102 labels of the holotype.

Figures 304 - 306. Geographical distribution of: 304 F. gallica 305 F. hirta 306 F. hispanica.

Figures 74 - 79. Fidiobia flaviabdominalis: 74 habitus, dorsal view (OPPC 0405) 75 habitus, lateral view (OPPC 0786) 76 antenna (♀) (OPPC 0647) 77 mesosoma, dorsal view 78 mesosoma, lateral view 79 a wings (OPPC 0647) 79 b WIP.