Aximopsis Ashmead, 1904

Delvare, G., Escolà, A. Ribes, Stojanova, A. M., Benoit, L., Lecomte, J. & Askew, R. R., 2019, Exploring insect biodiversity: the parasitic Hymenoptera, chiefly Chalcidoidea, associated with seeds of asphodels (Xanthorrhoeaceae), with the description of nine new species belonging to Eurytomidae and Torymidae, Zootaxa 4597 (1), pp. 1-90 : 60-61

Aximopsis Ashmead, 1904

Lotfalizadeh et al. (2007) proposed a broad definition of Aximopsis which embraces the nodularis species group of Eurytoma and includes species that are parasitoids of a variety of endophytic hosts in stems and leaf-mines, beetle galleries in wood and in twigs containing nests of aculeate Hymenoptera . The genus is speciose in tropical countries. It is included by Zerova (2010) in the robusta species group of Eurytoma based on the presence of a ventral shelf on the mesepisternum.

Two species were found associated with asphodels in Europe, A. collina and the newly described A. balajasi . They are morphologically extremely close and would not have been separated without molecular data. They are distinguished from other Palaearctic species of Aximopsis by their biology; they have been reared from galls of Diplolepis species ( Lotfalizadeh et al. 2006; Askew et al. 2006) and, as here reported, from seeds of asphodels. Other European Aximopsis species with known biology are parasitoids of xylophagous Coleoptera ( Zerova 1995, 2010) or of aculeate Hymenoptera nesting in twigs ( Zerova 1995, 2010) and are often collected on dead trunks or branches. Morphologically A. collina and A. balajasi are distinguished from their congeners by the following characters: lower face with radiating raised carinulae reaching above lower margin of antennal toruli ( Fig. 27A ), pedicel without basidorsal constriction ( Fig. 27C ), clava effectively 1-segmented with all its segments fused ( Fig. 28C ), ventral shelf of mesepisternum short and distinctly elbowed with epicnemium ( Figs 26 , 28A ); setation of fore wing entirely white and marginal vein shorter than both the stigmal and postmarginal veins ( Figs 26 , 28A ).

Figures

FIGURE 26. Aximopsis balajasi Delvare sp. n., ♀ ex A. ramosus from Sòller, Mallorca, Spain.

FIGURES 27A–F. Aximopsis balajasi. A–E, ♀. F, ♂. A, head in frontal view. B, same in dorsal view. C, antenna. D, propodeum. E, procoxa in anterior view. F, antenna. A, D & E, ex A. ramosus, Vizzini, Monte Iblei, Sicilia, Italy. B & C, holotype ♀, ex A. ramosus, Aléria, Vaccaja, Corse, France [voucher GDEL1610]. F, ex A. ramosus, Sòller, Mallorca, Spain.

FIGURES 28A–E. Aximopsis collina (Zerova), ♀. A, habitus. B, head in posterior view [SEM photograph], C, clava [SEM photograph]. D, petiole in lateral view [SEM photograph], E, same in ventral view. A & E, ex A. ramosus, Banyuls-sur-Mer, Pyrénées-Orientales, France. B–D, female collected by sweeping at Cébazan, Hérault, France.