Ceroptres kovalevi Belizin, 1973

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 : 4-7

Ceroptres kovalevi Belizin, 1973

Ceroptres kovalevi Belizin, 1973 . Revue d’Entomologie d’URSS 52(1): 37. Type material: ZIN.

Ceroptres masudai Abe, 1997 . Appl. Entomol. Zool. 32 (1): 253. Type material: KPU. Synonymized by Lobato-Vila and Pujade-Villar (2019: 33).

Material examined (43 and 128): Deposited in ZAFU with the following data: Quqianjia Forestry Farm, Liupan Mountain (Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region), Ex undetermined small spherical galls on leaves, unknown tree, 07.vii.2008, Zhemin Rao leg. (13 and 68); Qianqingtang, Qingliangfeng (Zhejiang), Ex unknown gall, unknown tree, 16.v.2012, Rui Guo leg. (18); same data, but Q. aliena , 03.iv.2016 (18); Shizifeng, Ludai (Henan), Ex unknown gall, unknown tree, 24.viii.1996, Ping Cai leg. (18); Dongling, Shenyang (Liaoning), Ex unknown gall, unknown tree, 07.vi.1994, Juxian Lou leg. (18); South Meiling Road, Xihu (Zhejiang), Ex unknown gall, unknown tree, 29.iv.2011, Xiaogui Zhou leg. (18); West Tianmu Mountain (Zhejiang), Ex undetermined small spherical galls on leaves, Q. fabri , (28.v.2011) 10.vi.2011, Rui Guo leg. (18); Changhua Town (Zhejiang), Ex unknown gall, Q. serrata , 25.vii.2014, Rui Guo leg. (13); Firebreak of West Tianmu Mountain (Zhejiang), Ex unknown gall, unknown tree, (22.viii.2014) 2 5.v iii. 2 0 1 4, J ie S h en leg. (1 3); B an q iao g o u, Huoditang Forestry Farm (Shanxi), Ex unknown gall, unknown tree, 05.vi.1998, Zizhou Du leg. (13).

Diagnosis: See Lobato-Vila and Pujade-Villar (2019).

Distribution: Far Eastern Russia, Japan, South Korea and mainland China (Henan, Liaoning, Shaanxi and Zhejiang Provinces, and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region) ( Belizin 1973; Abe 1997; Abe et al. 2007; Wang et al. 2012; Lobato-Vila and Pujade-Villar 2019; Lobato-Vila et al. 2020d; this study).

Biology: Originally reared from an unknown gall ( Belizin 1973). According to Pénzes et al. (2012), reared from galls of Andricus kashiwaphilus Abe , A. mukaigawae (Mukaigawa) and Ussuraspis nervosa Kovalev collected in Japan and Far Eastern Russia ( Abe 1997; Melika 2012); from galls of Andricus targionii Kieffer and A. pseudoflos (Monzen) in Japan ( Abe 1997; Abe et al. 2007); from leaf galls of an undescribed Ussuraspis species in Far Eastern Russia (Melika 2012) and, occasionally, from galls of Andricus hakonensis (Ashmead) (= A. attractus Kovalev , = A. symbioticus Kovalev ) ( Wachi and Abe 2010). The galls from which C. kovalevi has traditionally been reared have been collected on Q. dentata Thunb. and Q. serrata Murray ( Abe 1997; Abe et al. 2007; Wang et al. 2012). Reared also from asexual galls of Plagiotrochus kunugiphagus (Ide and Abe) (new combination after Pujade-Villar et al. 2020a) on Q. acutissima Carruth in South Korea ( Lobato-Vila et al. 2020d). The new material presented here was reared from unknown small spherical galls on leaves on Q. fabri Hance , from unknown galls on Q. serrata and Q. aliena Blume , and from other unknown galls on undeterminate Quercus .

Remarks: Ceroptres kovalevi is the only species currently known from the Eastern Palaearctic since Pujade-Villar et al. (2019) transferred C. distinctus Wang, Liu and Chen, 2012 and C. setosus Wang, Liu and Chen, 2012 , both species described from mainland China ( Wang et al. 2012), to the newly described genus Xestophanopsis Pujade-Villar and Wang (Diastrophini) and Periclistus Förster , respectively. Ceroptres kovalevi has not yet been found in the Oriental region.