Aphidius apolloni Kavallieratos and Tomanović, 2006

Kavallieratos, Nickolas G., Tomanović, Željko, Sarlis, George P., Fasseas, Constantin & Emmanouel, Nickolas E., 2006, A review of the genus Aphidius Nees in Greece (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Aphidiinae) with the description of a new species, Journal of Natural History 40 (17 - 18), pp. 1179-1197 : 1185-1190

Aphidius apolloni Kavallieratos and Tomanović sp. nov.

( Figures 21–26 )

Holotype: female, Mt Tymphi, Ioannina, western Greece, 17 July 2003 (BNHM, slide number 23G/03) reared from Macrosiphum daphnidis Börner, 1950 on Daphne oleoides Schreber , coll. N. G. Kavallieratos and Ž. Tomanović. Paratypes: same locality, 8♀, 2♀, 3 July 2004, coll. N. G. Kavallieratos, 3♀, 18 July 2004.

Description

Female. Head. Eyes oval. Malar space equal to 0.25 of longitudinal eye diameter. Clypeus oval with about 13 long setae. Tentorial index about 0.46. Antenna ( Figure 22 ) 19- segmented, filiform, moderately thickened at apex, with semi-erected and adpressed setae which are shorter than the half of the diameter of the segments. F 1 ( Figures 22, 23 ) about 3.6 times as long as wide, with three longitudinal placode sensilla. F 2 ( Figures 22, 23 ) about 3.0 times as long as wide, with four longitudinal placode sensilla. F 8 ( Figure 22 ) about 2.2 times as long as wide, with six longitudinal placode sensilla. F 1 little longer than F 2 (F 1 / F 251.07). Maxillary palps four-segmented, labial palps three-segmented.

Mesosoma: mesonotum with notaulices distinct in the fore part, slightly crenulated, effaced on the disc. Propodeum ( Figure 24 ) areolated with narrow pentagonal central areola. Upper lateral areola with nine setae and lower lateral areola with four setae ( Figure 24 ).

Fore wing: stigma ( Figure 21 ) about 4.0 times as long as wide and about 1.9 times as long as distal abscissa of R 1; r-rs vein ( Figure 21 ) about 1.1 times as long as 3/RS vein; R 1 vein ( Figure 21 ) about 2.1 times longer than stigma width.

Metasoma: tergite 1 ( Figure 25 ) about 3.8 times as long as wide at spiracles with eight costulae on its anterolateral area and with moderately prominent mediodorsal carina. Ovipositor sheath ( Figure 26 ) slightly concave on its dorsal margin.

Colour: head black. Eyes black. Face with mouthparts yellow. Clypeus yellow. Mandibles yellow except for dark apices. F 1 black with yellow base, remainder of antenna black. Prothorax brown, remainder of thorax black. Wings hyaline with brown venation. Tergite 1 brown to dark brown. Rest of metasoma dark brown. First and second pair of legs yellow, with dark apices. The mummy is brown.

Body length about 3.0 mm.

Male. Antenna 18-segmented, filiform, with semi-erected and adpressed setae which are shorter than diameter of the segments. Stigma 3.4 times as long as wide and about 1.9 times as long as distal abscissa of R 1; R 1 vein 1.4 times longer than stigma width. Tergite 1 2.7 times as long as wide at spiracles with five costulae on its anterolateral area.

Colour: head, eyes, face black. Mandibles dark brown except for black apices. Clypeus dark brown. Maxillary and labial palps dark brown to black. Antennal scape dark brown. Antennal pedicel dark brown with light brown apex. Remainder of antenna dark brown. Propleuron, pronotum, mesopleuron, metapleuron, scutellum, postscutellum, mesonotum, and metanotum dark brown to black. Wings hyaline with brown venation. Tergite 1 dark brown. Rest of metasoma dark brown. Legs dark brown.

Body length 2.6 mm.

Diagnosis

The new Aphidius species is separated from other congeneric species by the synopsis of the following characters: 19-segmented antennae, F 1 about 3.6 times as long as wide, with three longitudinal placode sensilla, short distal abscissa of R 1 (stigma about 1.9 times as long as distal abscissa of R 1). Aphidius apolloni resembles Aphidius rosae Haliday, 1834 in the number of longitudinal placode sensilla on the F 1, slightly longer F 1 than F 2 and short distal abscissa of R 1 (stigma 1.6–1.9 times as long as distal abscissa of R 1), but it is immediately distinguished from A. rosae by the proportions between: length and width of F 1 (2.3–2.7 in A. rosae instead of about 3.6 in A. apolloni ), length and width of stigma (3.0– 3.6 in A. rosae instead of about 4.0 in A. apolloni ), length of r-rs and 3/RS vein (1.3–2.0 in A. rosae instead of about 1.1 in A. apolloni ), length and width of tergite 1 (2.7–3.3 in A. rosae instead of about 3.8 in A. apolloni ), number of antennal segments (16–18 in A. rosae instead of 19 in A. apolloni ). The new species resembles also Aphidius urticae species group in the host range (parasitoid of Macrosiphini aphid), proportions of length and width of F 1, length and width of stigma, length and width of tergite 1, and number of antennal segments. From the urticae species group, A. apolloni can be distinguished by the short R 1 vein (proportion between length of stigma and length of R 1 in A. urticae species group is 0.93–1.20 instead of about 1.9 in A. apolloni ), the number of longitudinal placode sensilla on F 1 (zero or one in A. urticae instead of three in A. apolloni ), the colour of F 1 (prevalently yellow in A. urticae instead of black with yellow base in A. apolloni ).

Etymology

The new species took its name from the ancient Greek God Apollo.

Remarks

Recently, we described Aphidius montenegrinus Tomanović and Kavallieratos from Acyrthosiphon daphnidis Ilharco, 1994 / Daphne alpina L. associations ( Tomanović et al. 2004). The host plant, Daphne , is a typical ancient Mediterranean genus with Laurasian pattern of distribution and early Tertiary origin. We have presumed the Mid-Tertiary origin of both associations: Macrosiphum daphnidis / Aphidius apolloni and Acyrthosiphon daphnidis / Daphne alpina and the ancient Mediterranean origin of A. apolloni and A. montenegrinus . Biogeographically, A. apolloni and A. montenegrinus are characterized most probably by a disjunctive distribution. This type of partition can be attributed to successive paleogeographical and climatic changes. At the end of the Miocene period, the large, probably rapid, climatic subversion must have brought aridity to southeastern Europe, rendering it uninhabitable to the majority of humidity-dependent species ( Hsü 1972). However, impermeable sediments on Dinarides massif, including Montenegro’s mountains and northern Greek mountains, had kept enough humidity for the survival of many plants and associated herbivorous insects. Subsequently, with decreasing aridity, southeastern Europe became the main centre of dispersion of different insect groups to the east and west, as well as to the north and south. This fact explains some close interrelationships between many local faunal elements inhabiting the Iberian Peninsula, the Apennines, the Crimea, and the Caucasus, on the one hand, and elements inhabiting southeastern Europe on the other.

From Macrosiphum daphnidis / Daphne oleoides associations we reared Aphidius ervi Haliday, 1834 and the hyperparasitoid Asaphes suspensus (Nees) (five specimens).

Figures

Figures 21–26. Aphidius apolloni sp. nov., holotype female. (21) Fore wing. (22) Antenna. (23) Part of antenna (scapus, pedicel, F1, F2). (24) Propodeum, dorsal view. (25) Tergite 1, dorsal aspect. (26) Ovipositor sheath, lateral aspect.