Gonatocerus (Gastrogonatocerus) membraciphagus Ogloblin, 1935

Triapitsyn, Serguei V., Huber, John T., Logarzo, Guillermo A., Berezovskiy, Vladimir V. & Aquino, Daniel A., 2010, Review of Gonatocerus (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) in the Neotropical region, with description of eleven new species, Zootaxa 2456, pp. 1-243 : 68-71

Gonatocerus (Gastrogonatocerus) membraciphagus Ogloblin, 1935

( Figs 119–132 )

Gonatocerus (Gastrogonatucerus [sic]) membraciphagus Ogloblin 1935: 65 –68 + plates (láminas) VI and VII (illustrations). Type locality: Loreto, Misiones, Argentina.

Lymaenon (Gastrogonatocerus) membraciphagus ( Ogloblin): Ogloblin 1938a : 106 (host information, key); Ogloblin 1959b: 50 (key).

Gonatocerus membraciphagus Ogloblin : Costa Lima 1962: 196; Yoshimoto 1990: 40 (listed in membraciphagus species group); Huber & Beardsley 2000: 55 (illustration of a forewing of the “ paratype ”); Loiácono et al. 2005: 11 –12 (type information, invalid designation of paratypes); Luft Albarracin et al. 2009: 9 (list; distribution and host association in Argentina).

Gonatocerus (Gastrogonatocerus) membraciphagus Ogloblin : De Santis & Esquivel 1967: 99 –100 (list); De Santis 1967: 106 (catalog).

Lymaenon (Gastrogonatocerus) setulosus Ogloblin 1959b: 45 (illustrations), 46–48, 50 (key). Type locality: San Mateo, Esmeraldas, Ecuador. Syn. n.

Lymaenon (Gastrogonatocerus) dorsiniger Ogloblin 1959b: 47 (illustrations), 48–49, 50 (key). Holotype female [lost from MLPA] (not examined). Type locality: San Mateo, Esmeraldas, Ecuador. Syn. n.

Gonatocerus (Gonatocerus) dorsiniger (Ogloblin) : De Santis 1979: 365 (catalog).

Gonatocerus (Gonatocerus) setulosus (Ogloblin) : De Santis 1979: 366 (catalog).

Lymaenon membraciphagus (Ogloblin) : De Santis 1980: 148 (catalog).

Gonatocerus dorsiniger (Ogloblin) : Yoshimoto 1990: 40 (listed in membraciphagus species group); Triapitsyn 2006b: 112 (type information).

Gonatocerus setulosus (Ogloblin) : Yoshimoto 1990: 41 (listed in membraciphagus species group).

Lymaenon dorsiniger Ogloblin : Loiácono et al. 2005: 17 (type information, correctly listed as presumed lost).

Lymaenon setulosus Ogloblin : Loiácono et al. 2005: 17 (type information, incorrectly listed as presumed lost).

Type material examined. Lectotype female of G. (Gastrogonatocerus) membraciphagus [MLPA], here designated to avoid confusion about the status of the type specimens of this species, on slide labeled: 1. “ Gonatocerus Gastrogonatocerus membraciphagus A. O. ♀ [58 40 – ip] 24.V.1932. A. O. Loreto, Misiones Paratypus”; 2. “1538/3”. The lectotype, although uncleared, is in very good condition, perfectly spread out, and mounted dorsoventrally. Paralectotypes [all MLPA]: 1 ♀, 1 ♂ on slide labeled: 1. “ Gonatocerus [ Gastrogonatocerus ] membraciphagus A. O. ♀ A. Ogl. Loreto, Misiones 3.VII.1933. sobre Vernonia . Paratypi.”, 2. “1538/4”; 1 ♀ on slide labeled: “ Gonatocerus Gastrogonatocerus membraciphagus A. O. ♀ Loreto, Misiones 5.vii.1933. Vernonia .”; 1 ♀ on slide labeled: “ Gonatocerus membraciphagus A. O. ♀ Loreto. Misiones 24.v.1933. Huevos de”; 1 ♂ on slide labeled: “ Gonatocerus membraciphagus A. O. ♂ Loreto. Misiones 24.v.1933. Huevos de. [an illegible word follows] Paratypus [ip]”. The one syntype female (under MLPA number 1538/3) that Loiácono et al. (2005) erroneously indicated as a “paratype” is designated here as the lectotype of G. (Gastrogonatocerus) membraciphagus . We consider the other two specimens mentioned by Loiácono et al. (2005) as “paratypes” and also the male specimen collected on 24.v.1933 and labeled as a “paratype” as belonging to the original syntype series of this species because even though they were not collected on the date stated for the “types” of the species (24.v.1932), Ogloblin was often careless in indicating the correct collecting dates of the taxa he described. All these specimens were collected prior to 14.xi.1935, the publication date of his G. (Gastrogonatocerus) membraciphagus .

Holotype female of Lymaenon (Gastrogonatocerus) setulosus [MLPA], on slide labeled: 1. [partially in India ink, partially ip] “ Gastrogonatocerus setulosus A. Ogl. Esmeraldas, Ecuador. Holotypus Juan Förster 5.VIII.1956 ”; 2. “3924”. The holotype was remounted in Canada balsam at UCRC from absolutely dark, dry Hoyer’s or Faure-like medium ( Fig. 4 ), in which it had been damaged and fragmented. It is now mounted under 4 coverslips, containing the head, fragments of the body (with the apical part of the ovipositor broken off), most of the antennal segments (F6–F8 of one of the antennae are missing), both forewings (with many of the marginal and discal setae broken off), and the basal half or so of one of the hind wings. Illustrated here are the antenna ( Fig. 119 ), most of the mesosoma ( Fig. 120 ), and the forewing ( Fig. 121 ) of the holotype.

Material examined. ARGENTINA. FORMOSA, Estancia Guaycolec (25 km N of Formosa ), 25°59’S 58°12’W, 185 m, 14.ii.1999, E. Fernández-Duque [1 ♂, UCDC] . MISIONES : Loreto: 15.ii.1949, [A.A. Ogloblin] [1 ♂, MLPA] ; Ruinas Jesuíticas , 27°20’S 55°31’W, 23.viii.2000, P. Fidalgo [1 ♀, UCRC] . Obraje Giralt , 24.iii.1949, [A.A. Ogloblin] [1 ♀, MLPA] . Reserva de Vida Silvestre Urugua-í , 25°58.471’S 54°06.986’W, 400 m, 10–12.xii.2003, B.V. Brown, G. Kung [1 ♀, UCRC] . BOLIVIA. LA PAZ, Chulumani, Apa Apa Reserve, 16.37°S 67.51°W, 2000 m, 1–3.iv.2001, B.V. Brown [1 ♀, UCRC] . COSTA RICA. HEREDIA, Estación Biológica La Selva , 10°20’N 84°01’W, 50–150 m, ALAS: 18.v.1993 [1 ♀, UCRC] ; 30.vi.1995 [1 ♀, UCRC]. MEXICO. TAMAULIPAS, Gómez Farías, Estación Los Cedros, 23°03’00’’N 99°09’03’’W, 340 m, 12.v.2002, S.V. Triapitsyn, V.V. Berezovskiy, A. Córdoba-Torres [1 ♀, UCRC] . VERA- CRUZ, 3 mi. N of Cardel by Río Actopan , 31.x.1982, A. González-Hernández, J.T. Huber [1 ♀, UCRC] .

Redescription. FEMALE (lectotype and first listed paralectotype of G. membraciphagus , and non-type specimens). Body length 600–770 µm. Head mostly yellowish except trabeculae dark brown; radicle yellowish, scape and pedicel light brown, F1–F7 brown or sometimes F5–F7 light brown, F8 and clava dark brown; pronotum yellowish, remainder of mesosoma orange-light brown except scutellum a little darker; gaster yellowish except middle gastral terga and cercal plates brown; legs yellowish or light brown except metatibia a little darker (brown).

Antenna ( Figs 122 , 125 ) with radicle about 1.5x as long as wide, 0.14–0.2x total length of scape, rest of scape 2.4–2.7x as long as wide, with faint sculpture; pedicel longer than F1; F1–F4 and F6 short (F3 and F6 slightly longer) and without mps; F5, F7, and F8 subequal in length (F8 a little wider) and each with 2 mps; clava with 8 mps, 3.2–4.1x as long as wide, from about as long as combined length of F6–F8 to a little longer than combined length of F4–F8.

Mesosoma ( Fig. 123 ). Mesonotum almost smooth. Propodeal spiracle not very large, normal in size. Forewing ( Figs 124 , 126 ) 3.1–3.3x as long as wide; longest marginal seta about 0.6x maximum wing width; forewing disc bare and almost hyaline behind submarginal and marginal veins, setose beyond stigmal vein, with a dark band behind and a little beyond stigmal vein, and infumate elsewhere. Hind wing ( Fig. 127 ) 13–15x as long as wide; disc with 2 rows of setae along margins and with a few scattered short setae, almost hyaline (slightly infumate just beyond venation); longest marginal seta about 1.7x maximum wing width.

Petiole about 3.7x as wide as long; gaster about as long as mesosoma; ovipositor long, 2.3–2.4x length of mesotibia, projecting strongly forward under mesosoma (extending to at least procoxa) and not exserted beyond apex of gaster.

Measurements (µm) of the lectotype of G. membraciphagus . Total body length: 713; head 133; mesosoma 303; gaster 306; ovipositor 475. Antenna: radicle 24; rest of scape 82; pedicel 52; F1 24; F2 23; F3 32; F4 28; F5 43; F6 31; F7 42; F8 42; clava 167. Forewing 824:261; longest marginal seta 82. Hind wing 600:45; longest marginal seta 76.

MALE (paralectotype collected 3.vii.1933). Body length 615 µm. Similar to female except for normal sexually dimorphic features and the following. Antenna ( Figs 128 , 130 ) with scape (including radicle) 2.7x as long as wide. Forewing ( Figs 129 , 131 ) 3.0x as long as wide. Gaster shorter than mesosoma. Genitalia as in Fig. 132 .

Diagnosis. Gonatocerus (Gastrogonatocerus) membraciphagus is characterized by the following unique combination: female antenna ( Figs 119 , 122 , 125 ) with F1–F4 and F6 short, without mps, and F5, F7, and F8 longer, subequal in length, each with 2 mps; forewing ( Figs 121 , 124 , 126 ) bare behind submarginal and marginal veins and with a dark band behind and a little beyond stigmal vein, infumate elsewhere; and ovipositor projecting strongly forward under mesosoma (at least as far as procoxa) and not exserted beyond apex of gaster ( Fig. 123 ).

Distribution. NEOTROPICAL: Argentina, Bolivia *, Costa Rica *, Ecuador *, Mexico *, and? Brazil ( Costa Lima 1962).

Hosts. Bolbonota pictipennis Fairmaire (Membracidae) ( Ogloblin 1938a); also known from eggs of an undetermined species of Membracidae ( Ogloblin 1935) , which may be the same species as reported later by Ogloblin (1938a).

Comments. Lymaenon setulosus is synonymized under G. membraciphagus because the relative length of the clava to the length of the preceding funicle segments of the holotype of L. setulosus falls within the range of G. membraciphagus , in which the range varies considerably, as indicated in the redescription above. For the same reason, Lymaenon dorsiniger , whose holotype is lost (the first and third authors looked through the entire collection of Mymaridae of A.A. Ogloblin in MLPA but could not find it), is synonymized under G. membraciphagus , based on the good original description by Ogloblin (1959b). All other morphological features of these three nominal species, besides minor variations in color, are about the same. Unlike stated by Ogloblin (1959b), F7 and F8 of the antenna of the holotype of Lymaenon setulosus have just 2, not 3 mps, and the clava has 8, not 7 mps.

Figures

FIGURE 4. The original type slides of the six out of seven species of Gonatocerus described by Ogloblin (1959 b) from Ecuador, before the specimens on them were remounted into Canada balsam from the dark, dried water-soluble mounting medium.

FIGURES 119 – 121. Gonatocerus (Gastrogonatocerus) membraciphagus ♀ (holotype of G. setulosus): 119, antenna; 120, mesosoma; 121, forewing.

FIGURES 122 – 124. Gonatocerus (Gastrogonatocerus) membraciphagus ♀ (lectotype): 122, antenna; 123, body; 124, forewing.

FIGURES 125 – 127. Gonatocerus (Gastrogonatocerus) membraciphagus ♀ (Reserva de Vida Silvestre Urugua-í, Misiones, Argentina): 125, antenna; 126, forewing; 127, hind wing.

FIGURES 128, 129. Gonatocerus (Gastrogonatocerus) membraciphagus ♂ (paralectotype): 128, antenna; 129, forewing.

FIGURES 130 – 132. Gonatocerus (Gastrogonatocerus) membraciphagus ♂ (Estancia Guaycolec, 25 km N of Formosa, Formosa, Argentina): 130, antenna; 131, wings; 132, genitalia.