Amphibolips maturus Kinsey, 1937

Cuesta-Porta, Victor, Melika, George, Nicholls, James A., Stone, Graham N., Equihua-Martinez, Armando, Estrada-Venegas, Edith & Pujade-Villar, Juli, 2023, Revision of the Amphibolips ‘ niger’ group with the description of a new species (Hymenoptera: Cynipini), Zootaxa 5360 (4), pp. 451-486 : 464-467

Amphibolips maturus Kinsey, 1937

Figs 26–34 , 72

Amphibolips (niger) maturus Kinsey, 1937: 441 .

Type material examined. HOLOTYPE. Asexual female deposited in the AMNH “Purepero, 5W, Mich., 8500’, Mex Ɵ, 12.25.31, ♀, 4.20.32” (white label), “ Q. serrulata, Kinsey coll.” (white label). “ Amphibolips maturus ParaHolotype ” (red label), “ Amphibolips maturus ( Kinsey, 1937) ♀, det. JP-V, 2014” (white label), “ AMNH _ IZC 00322789 ”. PARATYPES ; 7 females deposited in the AMNH ; one paratype with the same data as the holotype deposited in the JP-V col ( UB) .

Additional material. One asexual female deposited in the UB “Purepero, 5W, Mich., 8500’, Mex Ɵ, 12.25.31, ♀, 4.20.32”, “ Q. mexicana, Kinsey coll.”, “ Amphibolips maturus Kinsey det. 31” .

Diagnosis. Amphibolips maturus belongs to the group of species characterized by the mesoscutum conspicuously carinate with the carinae bent towards the posterior margin of mesoscutum, and the central propodeal area rugose, as in A. elatus , A. gumia , A. jubatus , and A. nebris . It differs from the rest of species of the group by the antenna with 13 flagellomeres, posterior half of mesoscutum with faded carinate-rugose sculpture and alutaceous interspaces, visible piliferous points, median mesoscutal line visible on posterior margin, and the mesoscutellar disc is faintly rugose with coriaceous interspaces, while in the rest of species the antenna has 14–15 flagellomeres, the mesoscutum is uniformly strongly carinated, with absent piliferous points, the median mesoscutal line is absent, and the mesoscutellar disc is coarsely rugose with smooth interspaces.

Re-description.

Asexual female ( Figs 26–34 ). Head, and mesosoma, black with some areas reddish brown to dark reddish brown on mesoscutum, mesopleura, axillula and propodeum; antenna of the same color than head; metasoma dark reddish brown; mouthparts, legs dark reddish brown, with coxae always darker; fore wings smoked with an infuscate band on anterior margin.

Head coarsely rugose, with sparse setae, denser on lower face and genae, rounded, transverse, 1.2× as broad as high and narrower than mesosoma in frontal view; 2.9× as broad as long in dorsal view. Gena dull longitudinally rugose, broadened behind eye in frontal view, subequal to transverse diameter of eye in lateral view. Malar space with striae radiating from clypeus, malar sulcus absent; eye 2.4× as high as length of malar space. Intern margin of eyes parallel. POL 2.5× as long as OOL, OOL 0.7× as long as diameter of lateral ocellus and subequal to LOL, LOL 0.7× diameter of lateral ocelli, all ocelli ovate, of same size. Transfacial distance slightly shorter to height of eye; toruli located at mid-height eye; diameter of antennal torulus 4× as long as distance between them, distance between torulus and compound eye 1.2× as long as diameter of torulus; lower face rugose, with dense white setae. Clypeus rounded, nearly as broad as high, rugose, with few setae; ventrally rounded, not emarginate and without median incision; anterior tentorial pit large, rounded, distinct, epistomal sulcus distinct, clypeo-pleurostomal line well impressed. Frons faintly rugose with shiny smooth areas, less pubescent than lower face, interocellar area rugose. Vertex rugose, occiput and postocciput alutaceous; occipital carina present, postgena smooth or alutaceous, with or without setae; posterior tentorial pit large, elongated, area below impressed; occipital foramen slightly shorter or as high as height of postgenal bridge; hypostomal carina emarginate, continuing into postgenal sulci which strongly diverge toward occipital foramen, postgenal bridge anteriorly slightly broader than occipital foramen. Antenna shorter than head+mesosoma, with 13 flagellomeres, pedicel as long as broad; flagellomeres subsequently broadening towards apical end; F1 1.2 x as long as scapus+pedicel and 1.2× as long as F2; F2 1.3× as long as F3; subsequent flagellomeres progressively shorter; F13 2.0× as long as F12; placodeal sensilla on F4–F13.

Mesosoma slightly longer than high, uniformly pubescent. Pronotum with faint irregular longitudinal striae from central to lateral part; propleuron sparsely pubescent and faintly rugose. Mesoscutum with median area punctured with shiny smooth areas, lateral area with strong irregular carinae radiating from the anterior parallel lines, mesoscutum slightly broader than long (greatest width measured across mesoscutum level with base of tegulae). Notaulus indistinct; anterior parallel line distinct, elevated into a strong carina, and extending to 1/2 of mesoscutum length; parapsidal line impressed; median mesoscutal line impressed on posterior margin; parascutal carina broad, reaching pronotum. Mesoscutellum ovate, slightly longer than broad; disk of mesoscutellum, faintly rugose with coriaceous interspaces, barely overhanging metanotum, with sparse long setae; circumscutellar carina inconspicuous. Mesoscutellar foveae big, about as broad as high, with shiny delicately rugose bottom, divided by a strong elevated carina. Mesopleuron sparsely pubescent, punctured and smooth, striated on anterior margin; speculum densely punctured; mesopleural triangle, with a few strong irregular striae and long white setae; dorsal and lateral axillar areas rugose, sparsely pubescent; axillula faintly rugose; subaxillular bar smooth, glabrous, triangular, narrowing posteriorly; metapleural sulcus reaching mesopleuron at 1/2, upper part of sulcus indistinct, sulcus separating a rugulose area, with sparse setae. Metascutellum glabrous, rugose, 2.0x as high as height of smooth, glabrous ventral impressed area; metanotal trough smooth, glabrous. Central propodeal area rugose, pubescent anteriorly, with delicate rugae in posterolateral part; propodeal carinae divergent and slightly bent on posterior margin; lateral propodeal area finely punctured and smooth, and densely pubescent. Nucha with strong longitudinal sulci dorsally and laterally. Tarsal claws with basal lobe.

Fore wing longer than body, smoked, with distinct dense cilia on margin, veins dark brown, radial cell open, 3.2× as long as broad; Rs not reaching wing margin, R1 distinct, not reaching wing margin, 2r angulated and shortly projected into radial cell; areolet big, triangular, closed and distinct. Rs+M visible, reaching basalis slightly below the mid-height or lower.

Metasoma shorter than head+mesosoma, slightly longer than high in lateral view; second metasomal tergum extending to 3/4 of metasoma in dorsal view, completely covered in setae laterally, glabrous and smooth dorsally, sparsely micropunctured in lateral view on anterior 2/3 and with a dense band of micropunctures on posterior 1/3; subsequent terga, densely pubescent and micropunctured. Hypopygium with or without micropunctures, prominent part of ventral spine of hypopygium broken in the studied specimen, with a few white setae ventrally. Body length 5.7 mm (n=1).

Gall. ( Fig. 72 ) Subspherical unilocular woolly twig gall (40–65 mm in diameter). The dense pubescence is rusty brown to pale brown, and it is attached to the body of the gall, which is a strongly lignified barrel-shaped parenchyma. The larval chamber is oval, central to the gall and within the lignified parenchyma.

Host. Q. castanea Née (= Q. serrulata Trel. ) and Q. crassipes Bonpl. (= Q. mexicana Benth. , not Bonpl.), section Lobatae .

Biology. Only the females are known. The mature gall was collected in December; adults emerged by the end of March to April ( Kinsey, 1937).

Distribution. Mexico: Michoacan and Jalisco states.

Figures

FIGURES 26–31. Amphibolips maturus, asexual female. 26–27, head:26, frontal view; 27, dorsal view. 28, head and mesosoma in lateral view. 29, mesosoma in dorsal view. 30, mesoscutellum in dorsal view. 31, antenna.

FIGURES 32–34. Amphibolips maturus, asexual female. 32, mesosoma in posterior view, propodeum. 33, metasoma in lateral view. 34, fore wing.

FIGURES 69–74. Galls: 69, A. elatus; 70, A. gumia; 71, A. jubatus; 72, A. maturus; 73, A. nebris; 74, A. pistrix.