A new genus of oak gallwasps, Cycloneuroterus Melika & Tang, with the description of five new species from Taiwan (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini)

Abstract

A new genus of cynipid oak gallwasp, Cycloneuroterus Melika & Tang (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini), containing five new species, C. lilungi, C. longinuxus, C. lirongchiuea, C. fortuitusus and C. formosanus, is described from Taiwan. Diagnostic characters and generic limits of the new genus are discussed in detail and a key to a group of closely related genera which share a suite of diagnostic genus-level characters is given. Descriptions of galls and adults, data on the diagnosis, distribution, host plant associations and biology of the new species, and a key to all five species are given.

Divergence estimates and early evolutionary history of Figitidae (Hymenoptera: Cynipoidea)

“…These data suggest that stem‐group cynipids were likely galling Fagacaeae (or other rosid families (Nieves‐Aldrey et al , 2009), with a relatively recent shift to Quercus . Examples of non‐ Quercus Fagaceae gallers are extant and the subject of current study (Melika et al , 2011; Tang et al , 2011a, b). Our estimates of genus‐level divergences within Cynipini are between 15 and 45 Ma, well within the range of divergence estimates of Quercus (Manos & Stanford, 2001; Liljeblad et al , 2008).…”

Discovery of Xestophanopsis gen. n. from China and taxonomic revision of two species misplaced in Ceroptres Hartig, 1840 (Hymenoptera, Cynipoidea: Cynipidae)

“…Similarly, several new genera in the tribe Phanacidini have been recently described from the Eastern Palaearctic (Asiocynips Kovalev, 1982, Zerovia Diakontschuk, 1988and Diakontschukia Melika, 2006 to be associated with Asteraceae. Still further, many new taxa in the tribes Cynipini and Synergini have also been described from this area (Melika et al 2005, 2010, Tang et al 2011, Bozsó et al 2015, Schwéger et al 2015a, b, Zhu et al 2015. The anticipated high richness of the cynipid fauna is most probably based on the species richness of Rosaceae (species of which Diastrophini species are associated with) in China, which is remarkable: 55 genera (two endemic) and 950 species (546 endemic), including 22 genera (one endemic) and 457 species (240 endemic) in the subfamily Rosoideae, to which Rubus and Potentilla belong (Lu et al 2003).…”

Afrotropical Cynipoidea (Hymenoptera)

“…Nevertheless, major collecting efforts still reveal new genera in Eucoilinae, and for the Cynipidae, the rich fauna of the region is only now being discovered (e.g. Tang et al 2009, 2011a, 2011b, Melika et al 2011a, 2011b). When the Oriental fauna is better understood, combining this knowledge with that of the Western Palearctic might possibly make the treatment of the Eastern Palearctic a relatively easy task, but collection efforts from this region are still very scattered and often difficult to access.…”

“…While ibaliids are species-poor (with 20 species) and largely confined to the Holarctic, the Liopteridae are relatively rare in all biogeographic regions with the exception of the Oriental region, which supports an unusually high diversity of Paramblynotus species (Ronquist 1995a, Liu et al 2007). The Holarctic region supports a rich gall-wasp fauna (Askew et al 2013, Nieves-Aldrey 2001, Ronquist and Forshage 2004, Melika 2006), but Eastern (Abe et al 2007) and Southeast Asia (Tang et al 2009, 2011a, 2011b, Melika et al 2011a, 2011b) are just beginning to be explored. The Neotropical cynipids are relatively understudied as well, and recent descriptions suggest our knowledge of this region is in its infancy (Medianero et al 2011, Nieves-Aldrey et al 2009, Medianero and Nieves-Aldrey 2010, 2011, Nieves-Aldrey and Medianero 2010, 2011, Melika et al 2009, 2010, 2012, Melika et al 2011).…”