Saphonecrus chaodongzhui Melika, Ács and Bechtold, 2004

Lobato-Vila, Irene, Wang, Yiping, Melika, George, Guo, Rui, Ju, Xiaoxue & Pujade-Villar, Juli, 2021, A Taxonomic Review of the Gall Wasp Genus Saphonecrus Dalla-Torre and Kieffer and other Oak Cynipid Inquilines (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) from Mainland China, with Updated Keys to Eastern Palaearctic and Oriental Species, Zoological studies (Zool. Stud.) 60 (10), pp. 1-25 : 10

Saphonecrus chaodongzhui Melika, Ács and Bechtold, 2004

Saphonecrus chaodongzhui Melika, Ács and Bechtold in Melika et al. (2004). Acta Zool. Acad. Sci. Hung. 50(4): 330. Type material: IZCAS (holotype), paratypes in IZCAS and PHMBL.

Diagnosis: Saphonecrus chaodongzhui belongs to a group of species ( S. flavitibilis , S. leleyi , S. segmentatus , sp. nov. and S. symbioticus ) characterized by the absence of lateral pronotal carinae and by having tarsal claws with a basal lobe. Saphonecrus chaodongzhui is morphologically close to S. segmentatus , sp. nov., both having females with 14-segmented antennae (instead of 13 typical of Saphonecrus ), pedicel of antenna at most 1.5x as long as wide and gena not broadened behind eyes. However, S. chaodongzhui differs from S. segmentatus , sp. nov. by having the frons without punctures (with small punctures in S. segmentatus , sp. nov.), POL 1.7x as long as OOL and OOL 1.8–2.0x as long as diameter of lateral ocelli (POL 1.4x as long as OOL and OOL 2.3x as long as diameter of lateral ocelli in S. segmentatus , sp. nov.), the mesoscutum with weak interrupted transversal carinae (coriaceous to imbricate, without carinae, in S. segmentatus , sp. nov.) and face reddish brown, except two blackish brown lateral spots on lower face (face yellow in S. segmentatus , sp. nov.). See also the key to species below.

Distribution: Mainland China (Yunnan Province, according to Melika et al. (2004) and Zhejiang Province, according to Wang et al. (2010)). South Korea and Japan ( Schwéger et al. 2015b: 62, Saphonecrus connatus section).

Biology: Unknown, according to the original description. According to Schwéger et al. (2015b), reared from leaf galls on Quercus dentata based on the notes about Saphonecrus connatus made by Sakagami (1949) and Abe et al. (2007).

Remarks: Saphonecrus connatus is thought to be a trans-Palaearctic species and was mentioned from Japan and South Korea ( Sakagami 1949; Abe et al. 2007). However, this record might be Saphonecrus chaodongzhui , a species that is closely related to S. connatus , according to Melika et al. (2004) and Schwéger et al. (2015b). The original description of S. chaodongzhui and the drawings provided in Melika et al. (2004: 330, 331) show some differences with respect to the pictures of one of its paratypes given in Schwéger et al. (2015b: 64, 65). So, the malar space is 0.6x as long as height of eye (not 0.65–0.7 as mentioned in the original description), the POL is 1.7x as long as OOL (POL is not nearly equal to OOL), the pedicel is 1.3x as long as wide (not 1.5) and F1 is 1.6x as long as F2 (not 1.8).