Striatoandricus cuixarti Pujade-Villar, 2022

Cuesta-Porta, Víctor, Arnedo, Miquel A., Cibrián-Tovar, David, Barrera-Ruiz, Uriel M., García-Martiñón, Rosa D., Equihua-Martínez, Armando, Estrada-Venegas, Edith G., Clark-Tapia, Ricardo, Romero-Range, Silvia & Pujade-Villar, Juli, 2020, A New Genus of Oak Gall Wasp, Striatoandricus Pujade-Villar (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini) from America with Descriptions of Two New Mexican Species, Zoological Studies (Zool. Stud.) 59 (8), pp. 1-21 : 10-12

Striatoandricus cuixarti Pujade-Villar n. sp.

( Figs. 4–7 ) urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:51C9A3E3-4C63-439C-8C63-2CC06C36DB7E

Type material: HOLOTYPE 8 deposited in JP-V col. ( UB) with the following labels: “MEX-209, Tunal-salto (municipio de San Felipe del Progreso, Estado de México), -99°96'21"N, 19°71'37"W, 2650 m.s.n.m.” (white label); “Ex. Q. frutex , (26.xii.2013) 26.ii.2014, R. Delia García-Martiñón leg.,” (white label); Holotype Striatoandricus cuixarti Pujade-Villar n. sp. Desig-2019” (red label) . PARATYPES (268): 98 with the same labels as holotype (UB); same labels 5.iii.2014: 28 (CP), 12.iii.2014: 18 (UB), 20.iii.2014: 48 (28 UB; 28 USNM); (28.ix.2013) 28.i.2014: 68 (UB), 30.iv.2014: 48 (28 UB; 28 AMNH).

Additional material: Agua Blanca de Iturbide (Hidalgo), Q. frutex , (7.xi–2013) ii–2014: 28 (leg. D. Cibrian-Tobar, col. UMBR).

Etymology: Species dedicated to Jordi Cuixart i Navarro, pacifist and Catalan activist, president of Òmnium Cultural, who is in preventive prison in Spain.

Diagnosis: The new species is the only species of the genus with adults provided with 11 segments in the antennal flagellomeres and the only species with small rose to blue galls.

Description: (agamic generation),

Length: 1.7–2.0 mm (n = 7).

Color ( Fig. 7a ): Chestnut; proximal half of antennae and distal half of legs amber; head and lateral if mesosoma dark chestnut/brown, black mesosoma dorsally; metasoma a slightly lighter; wing venation light brown.

Head ( Fig. 4a–d ): With sparse setae, not dense. Coriaceous with fine carinae extending from lateral margins of clypeus to basal and lower lateral margins of compound eyes; medial area of face elevated between toruli and clypeus, coriaceous, not carinated; front and vertex coriaceous. Transversally ovate in frontal vision, 1.2x wider than high; 2.6x wider that high in dorsal view, narrower than the mesosoma width. Gena coriaceous, maximum width subequal to maximum width of compound eye. Malar space 0.3x as long as height of compound eye, malar sulci absent. POL:OOL:LOL distances 5:2:2; maximum diameter of lateral ocellus 1.4. Transfacial line slightly longer than maximum height of compound eye. Toruli diameter greater than space between them (2.5:1), but slightly shorter than distance to compound eye (2.5:3). Clypeus trapezoidal, mostly coriaceous and smooth on the ventral margin; sparsely pubescent on ventral half; tentorial pits present; epistomal sulci and clypeo-pleurostomal line inconspicuous; anterior margin slightly prominent not medially incised. Front slightly elevated in central part not forming a median carina.

Antennae ( Fig. 4e ): With 13 segments, shorter than total length of body (34:53), but longer than head + mesosoma (34:30); pedicel slightly longer than broad; placoid sensilla present from distal half of F3 onwards. F4–F13 broader than F1–F3; F1 similar in length to F2. Antennal formula: 30: 22: 43: 40: 35: 31: 27: 27: 24: 24: 21: 21: 38.

Mesosoma ( Figs. 1c , 5 ): Slightly longer than high in lateral view, with setae in pronotum, mesepimeron, scutellum, propodeum and along notauli. Pronotum mostly striated with some alutaceous areas; anterior margin narrow and emarginated. Mesoscutum coriaceous, as broad as long (measured at tegulae level); notauli complete; medial line absent; anterior parallel and parapsidal lines visible through a finer sculpture. Scutellum mostly coarsely rugulose with dorsal coriaceous and glabrous central area; almost as long as broad, 0.5x longer than mesoscutum; protruding posteriorly over metanotum; scutellar fovea smooth, ellipsoid, separated by a septum, broader than long, and slightly oblique to transversal axis; axillae smooth to finely alutaceous with sparsely pubescence. Mesopleura with some striae, speculum mostly alutaceous to coriaceous; mesepimeron striate with uniform pubescence; mesepisternum glabrous on superior half and sparsely pubescent with fine sculpture on lower half. Dorsellum subrectangular, convex inferiorly, uniformly rugulose; metanotal trough smooth and glabrous. Metapleura uniformly pubescent; metapleural sulcus reaching mesopleuron in the half of its height. Propodeum carinae curved to the lateral sides; central part smooth and glabrous; lateral area uniformly pubescent and finely alutaceous. Nucha present, with longitudinal carinae; posteriorly margined.

Wings ( Fig. 7a ): Forewings 1.5x longer than body, hyaline, margins ciliate; radial cell around 4x longer than broad; R1 not reaching anterior margin of forewing; Rs not projected; areola closed forming a triangle; Rs + M projection reaching in the lower half of basal vein.

Legs: Tarsal claws with a conspicuous tooth forming an acute angle ( Fig. 6e ).

Metasoma ( Fig. 6a–d ): Slightly longer than high and 1.2x longer than mesosoma in lateral view; second metasomal tergite covering more than half of metasoma, smooth and pubescent on anterior half, lateral pubescence not reaching margins of tergite, reticulate and glabrous on posterior half with smooth posterior margin; rest of tergites with strongly sculpture similar to posterior half of second tergite, coriaceous to reticulated with the distal margin smooth and shiny; ventral spine of hypopygium around 4x longer than broad, incise distally and with 5 lateral setae on each side that project over the tip of the spine, not forming a tuft.

Gall ( Fig. 7b–e ): Located in the lower part of the central nerve of the leaf. It appears as a pubescent circular ball of small size (6–9 mm long by 5–6 mm wide), cream-colored sometimes purple. The 2mm thick pubescence is not brittle and completely covers the larval chambers. The larval cameras are together, not fused, which are cylindrical, light brown; its size is about 3mm long by 1mm wide. The number of larval cameras ranges from 2 to 6.

Biology: Only asexual females are known. The galls appear in July and the adults emerge in March or April of the following year.

Host: It occurs on Q. frutex Trel. (section Quercus ).

Distribution: México (Hidalgo and Estado de México).

Figures

Fig. 4. Striatoandricus cuixarti n. sp.: (a) head in frontal view, (b) head in lateral view, (c) head in frontal view, (d) head and mesosoma in dorsolateral view, (e) antenna with details on last flagellomeres.

Fig. 5. Striatoandricus cuixarti n. sp.: (a) mesosoma in dorsal view, (b) propleurae, (c) mesosoma in lateral view, (d) propodeum, (e) body.

Fig. 6. Striatoandricus cuixarti n. sp.: (a) metasoma in lateral view, (b) metasoma in dorsal view, (c) ventral spine of hypopygium, (d) metasoma in ventral view, (e) tarsal claw.

Fig. 7. Striatoandricus cuixarti n. sp.: (a) body, (b–d) galls, (e) larval chambers.

Fig. 1. (a) Head in posterior view of S. georgei with details of occipital foramen and gular area (left) and mouth parts (right). Pronotum in lateral view of: (b) S. maesi, (c) S. cuxarti, (d) S. georgei and (e) S. sanchezi.