Aximopsis collina ( Zerova, 1984 )

Delvare, G., Escolà, A. Ribes, Stojanova, A. M., Benoit, L., Lecomte, J. & Askew, R. R., 2019, Exploring insect biodiversity: the parasitic Hymenoptera, chiefly Chalcidoidea, associated with seeds of asphodels (Xanthorrhoeaceae), with the description of nine new species belonging to Eurytomidae and Torymidae, Zootaxa 4597 (1), pp. 1-90 : 65

Aximopsis collina ( Zerova, 1984)

( Figs 28 A–E)

Material examined from asphodels. FRANCE: Bouches-du-Rhône, La Ciotat , 36 m, 43.19861°N 5.63138°E, ex seeds of A. cerasiferus , 12.vi.2010 (H. Dumas) (2 ♂, 1 in RAPC, 1 lost) ; Dordogne, Belvès , Forêt de la Bessède , 232 m, 44.79361°N 0.90555°E, ex seeds A. albus albus , 24.vi.2011 (R.R. Askew) (2 ♀, in RAPC) ; La Douze, Forêt Domaniale de la Barade , 235 m, 45.03416°N 0.86028°E, 14.vi.2011 ovipositing in fruit of same asphodel, same collector (1 ♀, in RAPC) ; 19.vi.2011 ex seeds same asphodel and collector (2 ♀, in RAPC) ; Hérault, Cazevieille , 295 m, 43.77086°N 3.78372°E, ex seeds of A. cerasiferus , 05.viii.1984 (G. Delvare) (2 ♀ 1 ♂, in GDPC) ; Mireval, N Creux-de-Mièges , 29 m, 43.52418°N 3.81855°E, ex seeds of A. cerasiferus , 21.vi.1985 (J.-M. Maldès) (5 ♀ 2 ♂, in GDPC) ; Saint-Pierre-de-Lafage, Forêt Domaniale de Parlatges , 540 m, 43.78324°N 3.41968°E, ex seeds of A. cerasiferus , 12.ix.2012 (G. Delvare) (5 ♀, in GDPC) ; Pyrénées Orientales, Banyuls-sur-Mer, E Col de la Créu , 240 m, 42.46278°N 3.14222°E, ex seeds of A. ramosus (J. Lecomte) ( GDEL1611 ♀ & GDEL1612 ♀, in CIRAD; 2 ♀ 1 ♂, in GDPC) ; TURKEY: Muğla, Datça, Mesüdiye , 150 m, 36.6967°N 27.55822°E, ex seeds of Asphodelus sp. 19.ix.2010 (A. Stojanova) (5 ♀ 5 ♂, in RAPC; 78 ♀ 42 ♂, in ASPC) ; TADJIKISTAN, Gissaf Mountain Range , 25.iii.1981 (M. Zerova) (1 ♀ 1 ♂) [identified by M. Zerova as Eurytoma collina Zerova ]

Aximopsis collina was originally described in Eurytoma ( Zerova 1984) . It has been recorded as a parasitoid in galls of Diplolepis (Cynipidae) on Rosa : D. mayri (Schlechtendal) in Central Asia ( Zerova 2010) and Spain (new record), D. fructuum (Rübsaamen) in Iran ( Lotfalizadeh et al. 2006), and D. rosae (Linnaeus) in France and Iran ( Askew et al. 2006). Specimens reared in this study from asphodel fruits have been compared with non-type material of A. collina , kindly lent to us by Marina Zerova, and found to be conspecific.

Diagnosis. As for A. balajasi except that gaster is only 1.55–1.7× as long as high.

Biology. Aximopsis collina has been found associated with A. albus albus , an apparently ovipositing female being observed on an exposed seed in a fruit on 14.vi. 2011 in Dordogne, France, and it has been reared from fruits of an unidentified species of Asphodelus in Turkey, but its host relations on Asphodelus remain obscure. In both Mallorca, and on the Causse de Larzac ( France), A. collina was reared in some numbers from, respectively, A. ramosus and A. cerasiferus , but no Eurytoma asphodeli were obtained from these samples. All emergences (9 ♀ 3 ♂) have been in the first year of the fruits.

Figures

FIGURES 28A–E. Aximopsis collina (Zerova), ♀. A, habitus. B, head in posterior view [SEM photograph], C, clava [SEM photograph]. D, petiole in lateral view [SEM photograph], E, same in ventral view. A & E, ex A. ramosus, Banyuls-sur-Mer, Pyrénées-Orientales, France. B–D, female collected by sweeping at Cébazan, Hérault, France.