Synergus longiscapus Pujade-Villar & Lobato-Vila, 2017

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 : 22-23

Synergus longiscapus Pujade-Villar & Lobato-Vila, 2017

Synergus longiscapus Pujade-Villar & Lobato-Vila, 2017 . Zoological Studies 56 (36): 14. Type material: UB (holotype), paratypes in UB, USNM and AMNH [examined by the first author in Lobato-Vila & Pujade-Villar (2017)].

Material examined (37♂ & 102♀). New material collected in Mexico and deposited in UB with the following location data: MEX: 460, Santa Fe (Cuajimalpa, CDMX), 19°21’09.78’’ N, 99°15’55.02’’ W’, Ex. Loxaulus hyalinus , Q. laeta , (26.iii.2018), 23.iv-20.v.2018, JP-V leg.

Diagnosis. Synergus longiscapus is morphologically close to S. cibriani , S. citriformis and S. longimalaris (see above), whose main differences have already been commented on (see the diagnosis of S. cibriani , S. citriformis and S. longimalaris , and the identification key).

Brief redescription. Female antenna 14-segmented, male antenna 15-segmented; scape long, usually as long as or longer than F1; F1 as long as F 2 in females and just slightly longer in males; F1 of males weakly expanded apically and basally; malar space 0.6 times as long as height of compound eye; frons and vertex coriaceous to alutaceous, frons with scarce small punctures; frontal carinae absent; mesoscutum finely coriaceous; notauli incomplete and narrow, faint in the anterior 1/3; scutellum finely coriaceous, weakly imbricated posteriorly; scutellar foveae inconspicuous; circumscutellar carina well defined, but not upturned; mesopleurae anteriorly and medially with regular striae, basally smooth, speculum also smooth; metasoma not dorsodistally incised, pointed and with a few weak micropunctures forming a posterodorsal patch; radial cell closed, 2.4 times as long as wide; tarsal claws with a basal tooth; body black and yellow; in males, head yellow except for a black spot in the ocellar area. For more details on the morphology of this species, see Lobato-Vila & Pujade-Villar (2017).

Distribution. Mexico. States of Ciudad de México, México, Morelos, Nuevo León, Oaxaca, 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 woolly galls initiated by Andricus , but also with other gall morphotypes (never tuberous galls) initiated by Andricus (like A. sphaericus and other undetermined species), Cynips, Disholcapsis , Neuroterus eugeros Pujade-Villar, 2018 and some undetermined small spherical galls on leaves, on oaks of both Quercus and Lobatae sections ( Lobato-Vila & Pujade-Villar 2017; Lobato-Vila et al. 2020b). Here also obtained from Loxaulus hyalinus Pujade-Villar & Melika, 2014 (see the material examined).