Ceroptres Hartig, 1840

Type species.

Ceroptres clavicornis Hartig, 1840.

Diagnosis.

Area between toruli distinctly depressed and with abundant pubescence. Metasomal tergite 1 small, mostly concealed between mesosoma and following tergites, and dorsally smooth. Frons with distinct facial carinae ventral to toruli, apparent at least as short ridges (we strongly recommend careful positioning and light diffusion when assessing this character).

Note.

Ceroptres are occasionally reared from galls induced on oaks by members of the tribe Cynipini (Lobato-Vila and Pujade-Villar 2019; Nastasi and Deans 2021), but are otherwise infrequently encountered. Ceroptres are presumed to be inquilines of Cynipini (Ronquist et al. 2015), although some theorize that they may actually be parasitoids due to observation of female Ceroptres ovipositing into mature galls rather than developing galls as is typical for gall inquilines (Z. Liu, in lit.). While 18 described species of Ceroptres are known from North America, the diversity of this genus has been sparsely surveyed, and many undescribed species are known in association with oak galls (S. Rollins and C. Tribull, pers. comm. 2023). Ceroptres have also been reared by several North American research groups in association with galls of cecidomyiid midges, although the exact nature of this association is unknown.

North American species (Nastasi and Deans 2021):

1. Ceroptres catesbaei Ashmead, 1885

2. Ceroptres confertus (McCracken & Egbert, 1922)

3. Ceroptres cornigera Melika & Buss, 2002

4. Ceroptres ensiger (Walsh, 1864)

5. Ceroptres frondosae Ashmead, 1896

6. Ceroptres junquerasi Lobato-Vila & Pujade-Villar, 2019

7. Ceroptres lanigerae Ashmead, 1885

8. Ceroptres lenis Lobato-Vila & Pujade-Villar, 2019

9. Ceroptres mexicanus Lobato-Vila & Pujade-Villar, 2019

10. Ceroptres minutissimi Ashmead, 1885

11. Ceroptres montensis Weld, 1957

12. Ceroptres nigricus Lobato-Vila & Pujade-Villar, 2019

13. Ceroptres petiolicola (Osten Sacken, 1861)

14. Ceroptres pisum (Osten Sacken, 1861)

15. Ceroptres quadratifacies Lobato-Vila & Pujade-Villar, 2019

16. Ceroptres rufiventris Ashmead, 1896

17. Ceroptres snellingi Lyon, 1996