Eurytoma pistaciae Rondani, 1877

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 : 59-60

Eurytoma pistaciae Rondani, 1877

( Figs 25F, G )

= Eurytoma setigera, Mayr, 1878 : Bouček, 1974: 263. Syn. rev.

Material examined. Type material. Eurytoma setigera Mayr. Lectotype ♀, designated by Bouček (1974) (in NHMW). Other material. Specimens reared from asphodels. FRANCE: Bouches-du-Rhône, La Ciotat, 36 m, 43.19861°N 5.63138°E, ex seed of A. cerasiferus , 12.vi.2010 (H. Dumas) (1 ♀ 4 ♂, in BMNH); ITALY: Sicilia, Vizzini, Monte Iblei, SE Lago Dirillo, contrado Rubalé, 350 m, 37.12103°N 14.72166°E, ex seed of A. ramosus , 19.vi.2014, adult emergence on vi.2015 (G. Delvare) (1 ♀, in GDPC); TURKEY: N. Aegean, Gökçe Ada Island , Şirinköy, 62 m, 40.12944°N 25.73805°E, ex seed of Asphodelus sp., 8.vi.2011 (A. Stojanova) (3 ♀ 1 ♂, in RAPC; 10 ♀ 1 ♂, in ASPC). Specimens reared from fruits of Pistacia terebinthus L. 1753. FRANCE: Hérault, Cazevieille, 230 m, N 43.75222° E 3.77000°, 28.x.2011, emerged v.2012 with Megastigmus pistaciae ex seeds of Pistacia terebinthus (G. Delvare) (8 ♀ 1 ♂, in GDPC); Viols-le-Fort, 200 m, N 43.74583° E 3.70389°, 28.x.2009, emerged v. 2010 with Megastigmus pistaciae from seeds of P. terebinthus (G. Delvare) (1 ♀, in GDPC).

Comment. The type of E. pistaciae was not examined by the authors. According to Bouček (1974) the type series comprises a pair a specimens, respectively a male and a female, belonging to two different species; the male was designated as lectotype as Rondani described that sex. Bouček in the same publication synonymized E. setigera Mayr, 1878 with E. pistaciae and was followed by subsequent authors (Doğanlar & Ҫam 1991; Zerova & Seryogina 2009). This synonymy was recently changed by Askew et al. 2013, basing this revision on information provided by GD that the two species were different. This interpretation of E. pistaciae followed the examination by GD, in 2000, of a female identified as E. pistaciae by Szelényi. This female was conspecific with a paratype of E. spinipes Kalina, 1970 . However additional specimens of Eurytoma belonging to the pistaciae group were reared in 2010 and 2012 from fruits of Pistacia terebinthus L. collected in 2009; this material is morphologically identical to the type of E. setigera . It is attributed here to the true E. pistaciae which was described from specimens reared from Pistacia seeds, together with Megastigmus pistaciae Walker, 1871 (quoted as Trogocarpi Ballestrerii, now in family Megastigmidae according to Janšta et al. 2017, in fruits of Pistacia ( Rondani, 1877)) . The synonymy of Eurytoma setigera Mayr, 1878 under E. pistaciae Rondani, 1877 syn. rev. is therefore re-established.

Diagnosis. Female. Head in frontal view 1.4× as wide as high; clypeus with small ventral submedian lobes; lower face and frons with lanceolate setae; scape with small smooth swelling on at most one third of anterior margin; funiculars subquadrate ( Fig. 25F ); each flagellomere with a single row of at least 3 MPS; setation also quite dense on flagellum; notauli impressed, not obliterated by sculpture of mesoscutum, but narrow; mesepisternum with straight anterior outline and with small tooth in front of mesocoxae; basal spiniform seta situated near base of metatibia, otherwise tibia mostly with two long setae only, less frequently with an additional one ( Fig. 25G ); setation on fore wing white; marginal vein 1.7× as long as stigmal vein; stigmal vein forming with postmarginal vein an angle of about 60°; ovipositor moderately upturned ( Fig. 25G ). Male with 4-segmented flagellum and bisegmented clava, the funiculars with yellowish apical peduncles.

Recognition. The proportions of the head; the reduced swelling on female scape, the dense setation and ornamentation of the flagellum, the relative length and orientation of the stigmal vein, the ornamentation of the metatibia and the upturned ovipositor sheaths distinguish E. pistaciae from E. spinipes , the species closest to it within the pistaciae group.

Biology. The type series of E. setigera was reared from various cynipid galls on oaks. E. pistaciae was subsequently recorded as a primary or secondary parasitoid in galls of Aulacidea hieracii (Linnaeus, 1758) on several Hieracium species ( Klymenko 2006), Diplolesis rosae (Linnaeus, 1758) and D. mayri (Schlechtendal, 1877) on Rosa spp. ( Askew et al. 2006 as E. pistacina Rondani ; Klymenko 2006), and Dryocosmus kuriphilus Yasumatsu, 1951 on Castanea sativa Mill., 1768 ( Yasumatsu & Kamijo 1979) (all Cynipidae ). Evidently the Bruchophagus species associated with asphodels are marginal hosts for E. pistaciae , only a few specimens emerging from seeds of A. cerasiferus and A. ramosus .

Figures

FIGURES 25A–G. A–E, Eurytoma genale. A–D, ♀; E, ♂. A, head in frontal view. B, same in lateral view. C, antenna. D, pro- and mesonotum. E, antenna. F–G. Eurytoma pistaciae Rondani, ♀. F, antenna. G, hind leg and metasoma. All specimens from Vizzini, Monte Iblei, Sicilia, Italy; E. genale ex A. lutea, E. pistaciae from A. ramosus.