Idarnes, Walker, 1843

Satler, Jordan D., Bernhard, Kristen K., Stireman Iii, John O., Machado, Carlos A., Houston, Derek D. & Nason, John D., 2020, Community Structure and Undescribed Species Diversity in Non-Pollinating Fig Wasps Associated with the Strangler Fig Ficus petiolaris, Insect Systematics and Diversity 4 (2), No. 3, pp. 1-13 : 3

Idarnes Species

Idarnes are the most abundant non-pollinating wasps attacking New World Americana figs ( Gordh 1975, Hamilton 1979, Bronstein 1991, West et al. 1996, Farache et al. 2018) and comprise three species groups: the less speciose I. incerta group (gallers) and the more speciose I. flavicollis (gallers) and I. carme (cleptoparasites) groups ( Gordh 1975, Boucek 1993, Cruaud et al. 2011, Farache et al. 2018). Despite their diversity and ecological dominance, as well as their negative impacts on pollinator production (West and Herre 1994), only ca. 15 of the I. carme and I. flavicollis species associated with the ca. 120 described Americana figs have been taxonomically described ( Gordh 1975, Boucek 1993), none of which are associated with F. petiolaris . Based on morphology, F. petiolaris hosts one member of the flavicollis group and three members of the carme group. Three of these Idarnes (the I. flavicollis and two I. carme ) co-occur within syconia throughout the range of this F. petiolaris in Baja California and Sonora, Mexico. We have labeled these three species as LO1 ( flavicollis ), SO1 ( carme ), and SO2 ( carme ), where LO and SO stand for Long Ovipositor and Short Ovipositor, respectively ( Duthie et al. 2015, Duthie and Nason 2016). The fourth (an I. carme species labeled LO2) is normally associated with Ficus pertusa but has been found developing within F. petiolaris figs in Sonora where the two species co-occur.

In a survey of six Brazilian fig species, Idarnes carme species were found to arrive at syconia after the pollinator and most I. flavicollis wasps ( Farache et al. 2018). Elias et al. (2012) found that an I. carme species associated with F. citrifolia in Brazil inserts its ovipositor through the walls of developing galls initiated by pollinator larvae. They conclude that I. carme larvae are cleptoparasites that kill pollinator lavae and feed on gall tissue. Idarnes flavicollis species arrive at syconia just prior to, during, or after the arrival the pollinator ( Farache et al. 2018). Elias et al. (2008) also investigated an I. flavicollis species associated with F. citrifolia that inserts its ovipositor through the syconium wall to oviposit through the style into pistillate flowers. They conclude I. flavicollis wasps to be gallers, as has been suggested previously based on more correlative evidence (West and Herre 1994). Females of both Idarnes species groups possess ovipositors three to six times their body length. The wingless males of these species groups fight for access to females using enlarged mandibles ( Hamilton 1979, Murray 1989, West and Herre 1994), and fertilized females exit syconia—without collecting pollen—via holes made by males of the pollinator species.