Molecular identification of Andricus species (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) inducing various oak galls in Central Zagros of Iran

Abstract

This study uses an integrated approach to address the taxonomic status of six different and problematic oak galls and their inducing wasps sampled from two sites in the Central Zagros Mountains (Lorestan province) in western Iran. Our aim was to establish whether morphologically similar but different galls are induced by the same or distinct gall inducers.The gallwasp specimens were identified morphologically to species, and their genomic DNA extracted. We used PCR and Sanger sequencing to amplify three fragments comprising cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI), cytochrome b (cytB), and a multi-gene fragment of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) including partial 5.8S, complete internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2), and partial 28S rRNA. We find that a pair of structurally similar but differently coloured galls are induced by the sexual generation of Andricus grossulariae, while another similar pair are induced by the asexual generation of A. sternlichti. In contrast, we find that two similar galls that differ in some structural details and in developmental phenology are induced by two closely related but different gall wasps; one is the sexual generation of A. cecconii, while the second is a new but closely related sexual generation Andricus sp.

Andricus pseudocecconii sp. nova (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini) from Iran

“…Below we provide a detailed description of adults and galls of the new species, with data on their biology and distribution. (Tavakoli et al, 2019(Tavakoli et al, , 2021, A. pseudocecconii, herein described. The new species is most closely related phylogenetically to A. cecconii, the asexual generation of which is A. megalucidus Melika, Stone, Sadeghi & Pujade-Villar, 2004(synonym in Shachar et al, 2018.…”

“…Sections of two genes were sequenced, a 433 base pair section of the mitochondrial cytochrome b (cytb) gene and the nuclear second rRNA internal transcribed spacer region (ITS2; approximately 496 base pairs), both of which are known to be informative for delimiting oak gall wasp species (see Nicholls et al, 2012Nicholls et al, , 2018aNicholls et al, , 2018bCerasa et al, 2020). Data were generated for multiple individuals of A. pseudocecconii and its close relative A. cecconii (including the latter species' asexual generation, previously known as A. megalucidus), and combined with previously published data for these two taxa (Tavakoli et al, 2019). In addition, individuals of five other species from the same clade of Andricus species were included to provide some phylogenetic context with close relatives.…”

“…Here we describe a new species, Andricus pseudocecconii Melika, Tavakoli & Stone, sp. nov., whose existence was suspected based on DNA sequence divergence and bimodal variation in gall structure within the known species Andricus cecconii Kieffer, 1901(Tavakoli et al, 2019.…”

The Determination of Harmful Hymenoptera and Lepidoptera Species in Forest Nurseries in the Western Black Sea Region of Türkiye

“…Identification based on morphology can be difficult and insufficient to distinguish some Cynipini species (Tavakoli et al, 2019). Therefore, both adult morphology and molecular methods were used for the accurate identification of species (Liu et al, 2017;Tavakoli et al, 2019). The molecular analysis were carried out in the BM Labosis laboratory, Ankara.…”