RHOOPHILINI LOBATO- VILA & PUJADE- VILLAR, 2022

Lobato-Vila, Irene, Bae, Jongmin, Roca-Cusachs, Marcos, Kang, Minjoon, Jung, Sunghoon, Melika, George, Pénzes, Zsolt & Pujade-Villar, Juli, 2022, Global phylogeny of the inquilinous gall wasp tribe Synergini (Hymenoptera: Cynipoidea: Cynipidae): first insights and establishment of a new cynipid tribe, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 195, pp. 1338-1354 : 1350

RHOOPHILINI LOBATO- VILA & PUJADE- VILLAR TRIB. NOV.

( FIG. 3 )

Z o o b a n k r e g i s t r a t i o n: u r n: l s i d: z o o b a n k. org:act: 707D3FF3-D8B7-49CC-9B1B-D59 CEAD 2F632

Type genus: Rhoophilus Mayr, 1881: 22 , female, male. By present designation.

The genus Rhoophilus Mayr, 1881 , formerly included in Synergini , is here raised to a separate tribe. The sole species within this genus, Rhoophilus loewi Mayr, 1881 , is a sister-taxon to the tribe Synergini with a moderate to strong support from a molecular basis. The species was re-described and illustrated by Van Noort et al. (2007).

Diagnosis: Head in frontal view rounded, with striae radiating from clypeus; ventral margin of clypeus straight; anterior tentorial pits visible and surmounted by some arched bowed carinae ( Fig. 3B ); frons and vertex alutaceous to finely coriaceous, with sparse punctures, more strongly marked between ocelli; median and lateral frontal carinae absent ( Fig. 3B, C ). Female antennae 13-segmented ( Fig. 3A ) (14-segmented in males). Pronotum broad medially; pronotal plate indistinct; lateral pronotal carina absent ( Fig. 3A, C ). Mesopleuron, including speculum, completely transversely striate ( Fig. 3A ). Tarsal claws simple, only with a blunt basal lobe (see Van Noort et al., 2007: fig. 4a). Forewings hyaline; radial cell closed along the wing margin ( Fig. 3A ). First metasomal tergite small and smooth, forming a dorsal crescentshaped projecting scale ( Fig. 3D ; see also Van Noort et al., 2007: fig. 4b); T2 and T3 fused in both sexes, but the resulting sclerite does not cover the subsequent metasomal tergites (4 th to 7 th), which are visible and of similar length ( Fig. 3A ; see also Van Noort et al., 2007: fig. 4b) and micropunctate.

Biology: Inquiline on galls of different species of the moth genus Scyrotis Meyrick, 1928 ( Lepidoptera : Cecidosidae ) on Searsia (formerly Rhus L.; Anacardiaceae ). The larval cells expand into the hollow interior of the host gall resulting in death of the gall inducing moth larva (lethal inquiline) ( Van Noort et al., 2007).

Diversity and distribution: This tribe includes one genus, Rhoophilus , with a single species, R. loewi . It is endemic to South Africa, currently known only from the Western and Northern Cape provinces ( Van Noort et al., 2007).

Figures

Figure 3. Female of Rhoophilus loewi Mayr, 1881: A, habitus; B, head in frontal view; C, head and mesosoma in dorsal view; D, mesosoma in dorsal view, with a detail of the first metasomal tergite (white arrow and circle) [Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of South Africa), CC0].