A new genus of oak gallwasps, Zapatella Pujade-Villar & Melika, gen. n., with a description of two new species from the Neotropics (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae, Cynipini)

Abstract

A new genus of cynipid oak gallwasp, Zapatella Pujade-Villar & Melika, gen. n. (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini), with two new species, Zapatella grahami Pujade-Villar & Melika, sp. n. and Zapatella nievesaldreyi Melika & Pujade-Villar, sp. n., is described from the Neotropics. Zapatella grahami,known only from the sexual generation,induces galls in acorns of Quercus costaricensis and is currently known only from Costa Rica. Zapatella nievesaldreyi, known only from the asexual generation, induces inconspicuous galls in twigs of Quercus humboldtii, and is known only from Colombia. Diagnostic characters for both new species are given in detail. Five Nearctic species are transferred from Callirhytis to Zapatella: Zapatella cryptica (Weld), comb. n., Zapatella herberti (Weld), comb. n., Zapatella oblata (Weld), comb. n., Zapatella quercusmedullae (Ashmead), comb. n., Zapatella quercusphellos (Osten Sacken), comb. n. (= Zapatella quercussimilis (Bassett), syn. n.). A key based on adults for the species belonging to Zapatella is also given. Generic limits and morphological characteristics of Zapatella and closely related genera are discussed.

Barucynips panamensis, a new genus and species of oak gallwasps (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae, Cynipini) from Panama, and description of one new species of Coffeikokkos

“…). More interesting is the discovery of new genera such as Agastoroxenia (Nieves-Aldrey and Medianero 2010) from Panama, Coffeikokkos (Pujade-Villar et al 2012a) and Zapatella (Pujade et al 2012b) from Costa Rica and Colombia, and the new genus Barucynips from Panama described here, demonstrating that the phylogenetic diversity is high in this region. All of these data support Kinsey’s (1936) hypothesis, which postulated America as the center of origin and radiation of the Cynipini, and challenges the more recent hypothesis that postulates that gall wasp lineages diverged in Asia (Stone et al 2008).…”

Description of a New Species of Diastrophus (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: “Aylacini”) from Colombia: The First Herb Gall Wasp Native to the Neotropical Region

“…The new combinations established by Melika & Abrahamson (2002) and the newly established genus Zapatella (Pujade-Villar & Melika 2012) are the first attempts to reorganize the Nearctic Callirhytis 'sensu lato'. However, a thorough review of all the species within this genus is required, and the new genera that may result must be defined by clear and distinct diagnostic characters.…”

“…The characters that he used (whether the wing was ciliated on the margin, if the venation was "normal" or pale, the coloration of the female in each generation, the sculpture of the scutum, and especially the presence of simple or toothed metatarsal claws) are unstable within Callirhytis, as was demonstrated by Nieves-Aldrey (1992) for the European species in the case of the metatarsal claws. Consequently, the concept of the genus Callirhytis according to Weld (1952), and widely used by many researchers over many decades, is problematic (Pujade-Villar et al 2012).…”

“…However, in recent years, important faunas of oak gall wasps from the Neotropical and Oriental regions have been discovered and are being studied, mainly those from Japan (Ide et al , 2012(Ide et al , 2013 and Taiwan (Melika et al , 2013Tang et al 2011a, b) and those from Panama and Costa Rica (see Medianero & Nieves-Aldrey 2011 for an updated list of the Cynipidae of the Neotropical region). In the above-mentioned list, 17 species of cynipini in 9 genera were recorded, but the list has been enlarged since then with the addition of 2 new genera and species (Pujade-Villar et al 2012;Medianero & Nieves-Aldrey 2013).…”

Primera cita del género <em>Neuroterus Hartig</em> (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae, Cynipini) para América Central, con descripción de tres especies nuevas de Panamá y Costa Rica

“…These studies have extended the geographical distribution of genera of gall wasp such as Amphibolips Reinhard, Disholcaspis Dalla Torre & Kieffer, Loxaulus Mayr, Odontocynips Kieffer, Bassettia Ashmead, Diastrophus Hartig, Andricus Hartig, Callirhytis Förster and Melikaiella PujadeVillar (Pujade-Villar, 2008;Medianero & NievesAldrey, 2011;Nieves-Aldrey et al, 2013;Medianero & Nieves-Aldrey, 2014;Pujade-Villar & Rodríguez, 2015). At the same time, new genera endemic to this region have been described, for example Agastoroxenia Nieves-Aldrey & Medianero, Coffeikokkos Pujade-Villar & Melika, Barucynips Medianero & Nieves-Aldrey and Zapatella PujadeVillar & Melika (Nieves-Aldrey & Medianero, 2010;Pujade-Villar et al, 2012a, 2012b.…”