Revision of the African horntail genus Afrotremex (Hymenoptera: Siricidae)

Abstract

Afrotremex is one of ten extant genera of Siricidae, known as horntails or woodwasps. Species are restricted to the central forested regions of Africa. Their biology and economic significance are unknown. However, the host of one species, A. xylophagus, is known. Their larvae are wood-boring insects. The genus consists of six species: Afrotremex hyalinatus (Mocsáry), A. violaceus Pasteels, A. comatus Goulet, n. sp., A. opacus Goulet, n. sp., A. pallipennis Goulet, n. sp., and A. xylophagus Goulet, n. sp. The genus is characterized, its phylogenetic placement is discussed, and a key to species is provided. For each species (if pertinent), the following are included: synonymy, diagnosis, comparative diagnosis, description, type material, origin of specific epithet, taxonomic notes, and range.

Revisions of the Afrotropical genera of Argidae and species of Pampsilota Konow, 1899 (Hymenoptera, Tenthredinoidea)

“…McKay et al 2009, Regas-Williams andHabeck 1979). Among the other Afrotropical symphytan lineages, only Goulet (2014) recorded an association with a species of Anacardiaceae: Afrotremex xylophagus Goulet, 2014 (Siricidae) reared from wood of Antrocaryon klaineanum Pierre. The few host plants hitherto recorded for native Afrotropical tenthredinoids are, conspicuously, nearly all non-woody species, and very often those which are cultivated (Koch et al 2015).…”

New early Eocene Siricomorpha (Hymenoptera: Symphyta: Pamphiliidae, Siricidae, Cephidae) from the Okanagan Highlands, western North America

“…Further to the morphological and molecular evidence that they discuss, host plant association has often been cited as consistent between these putative taxa, with siricine larvae characterised as feeding within conifer wood and tremicines within angiosperms. However, while those genera assigned to the Siricinae where host plants are known (Sirex, Urocerus) do feed within conifers, the host plants of the others (Sirotremex Smith, Xoanon Semenov) are not known; of those assigned to the Tremicinae, Tremex feeds in angiosperms, Xeris ( + Neoxeris, within Tremicinae: Schiff et al 2012) feeds in conifers, Eriotremex in both conifers and angiosperms, Afrotremex has a very restricted record of an angiosperm host, and the host plants of Siricosoma (in Tremicinae: Schiff et al 2012) and Teredon are not known (Smith 2008;Schiff et al 2012;Goulet 2014). Therefore, this is also too weak a character to separate the Tremicinae.…”

New distribution records for the rare genus Afrotremex Pasteels (Siricidae: Hymenoptera) and provision of interactive Lucid identification keys to species

“… Afrotremex Pasteels 1951 is the only indigenous genus representative of Siricidae in the Afrotropical region ( Goulet 2014 , van Noort 2015 ). The other siricid genus present in the region is represented by the alien pest species, Sirex noctilio Fabricius, 1793, accidentally introduced to South Africa ( Hurley et al 2012 , Taylor 1962 , Tribe 1995 , Tribe and Cillié 2004 , van Noort and Picker 2011 ) from the western Palaeartic region on several independent occasions via Oceania and South America ( Boissin et al 2012 ).…”

“…The other siricid genus present in the region is represented by the alien pest species, Sirex noctilio Fabricius, 1793, accidentally introduced to South Africa ( Hurley et al 2012 , Taylor 1962 , Tribe 1995 , Tribe and Cillié 2004 , van Noort and Picker 2011 ) from the western Palaeartic region on several independent occasions via Oceania and South America ( Boissin et al 2012 ). The recent revision of Afrotremex elevated the known species richness from two to six, with the description of four new species, based on 12 specimens examined in the collections of the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary (HNHM); Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, Belgium (MRAC); National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA (USNM); Museum für Naturkunde der Humboldt Universität, Berlin, Germany (ZMHB) ( Goulet 2014 ). This is a rare genus of wasps endemic to Africa that is poorly represented in world collections.…”

“…This is a rare genus of wasps endemic to Africa that is poorly represented in world collections. The genus was previously only recorded from central Africa: Cameroon, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon and Uganda ( Goulet 2014 ). Subsequently, two additional specimens were located in the collections of the Natural History Museum in London.…”