Ricasia fumariae, Askew & Nieves-Aldrey, 2005
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publication ID |
https://doi.org/ 10.1080/00222930500089271 |
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persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/3C4A87B1-FFB7-9356-FE07-FA72FD60D8DB |
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treatment provided by |
Carolina |
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scientific name |
Ricasia fumariae |
| status |
sp. nov. |
Ricasia fumariae sp. nov. ( Figures 1–3 View Figure 1 View Figure 2 View Figure 3 ) Description
Female. Body dark green with coppery tints. Scape infuscate with ventral edge testaceous; pedicel dark brown, faintly metallic; flagellum brown. Legs with coxae concolorous with thorax; femora and tibiae bright testaceous, pro- and mesofemora brown on posterior surfaces in basal halves; all tibiae broadly brown on posterior surfaces; tarsi brown. Wings clear; tegulae, and parastigma, stigma and postmarginal veins brown, remainder of venation stramineous. Length 2.4 mm.
Head with vertex, face and clypeus very finely reticulate, the small areoles separated by relatively deeply engraved lines, and with numerous small piliferous punctures. Head in dorsal view 1.1X as broad as mesoscutum, 2.1X as broad as long; temples slightly over half eye length; frons scarcely advanced in front of eyes, almost straight; POL about 2.0X OOL, posterior ocellus separated from eye by about 2X its diameter; eye with very short, inconspicuous hairs. Head ( Figure 1C View Figure 1 ) in front view 1.44X as broad as high; vertex convex; inner eye margins slightly divergent ventrad, minimum (dorsal) separation 1.36X height of eye; gena gently curved; malar space 0.38X height of eye; mouth opening broad, more than 3X malar space; clypeus with anterior margin slightly recessed, very weakly concave; torulus with lower margin about level with bottom of eye and separated from upper margin of clypeus by only its diameter; antennal scrobes shallow, short, extending less than half distance between torulus and anterior ocellus, no interantennal prominence. Antenna ( Figure 1A View Figure 1 ) with scape short, 4.3X as long as broad, not quite reaching lower margin of anterior ocellus; anellus plus first funicle segment almost as long as pedicel; flagellum not clavate, broadening only slightly distally, all segments at least slightly broader than long, each with a single, transverse row of linear sensilla, clava ( Figure 1B View Figure 1 ) with an apical tuft of two types of hair, one fine and bent, the other stout and weakly curved.
Thorax with dorsal sculpture similar to that of vertex, with very fine, engraved reticulation and many small piliferous punctures. Mesosoma in dorsal view ( Figure 1E View Figure 1 ) 1.7X as long as broad; pronotum 2X as broad as long, campaniform, sloping from posterior margin to neck without indication of a collar; mesoscutum medially about as long as scutellum, 2X as broad as long; scutellum about as broad as long, broadly based with scutello-axillar sutures not strongly convergent, meeting hind margin of mesoscutum only slightly mesad of notauli, a deep groove separating midlobe of mesoscutum from scutellum; frenum with sculpture similar to that of remainder of scutellum, the frenal groove weakly impressed; dorsellum slightly shorter than frenum and with similar sculpture. Mesosoma in lateral view ( Figure 1F View Figure 1 ) 2X as long as high, dorsal surface weakly convex; upper part of mesepisternum smooth. Hind leg with upper surface of coxa densely pilose; tibia with outer apical spur half as long as the inner which is a little longer than the apical breadth of the tibia. Propodeum ( Figure 2B View Figure 2 ) medially 0.36X length of scutellum; median carina weakly raised and irregular; lateral plicae indicated only at the hind margin of propodeum; median area with fine, weakly raised reticulation which tends to form irregular carinulae running obliquely from median carina; spiracle separated from anterior edge of propodeum by about two diameters and scarcely closer to metanotum than to supracoxal flange; callus quite thickly pilose; nucha short.
Fore wing ( Figure 2C View Figure 2 ), basal cell entirely pilose; speculum small, not extending behind marginal vein, separated from cubital vein by a broad band of hairs, and from parastigma by a narrow band; costal cell with submarginal hairs on its upper surface in distal half or more; ratio lengths of costal cell: marginal vein: stigmal vein: postmarginal vein as 106:35:29:54; stigmal vein slightly curved, stigma small, but with relatively long uncus, separated by about 3X its height from costal edge.
Petiole of gaster about 6X as broad as long, smooth. Gaster ( Figure 2A View Figure 2 ) sublanceolate, apically acute, almost 2X as long as broad, longer than rest of body (70:59); ovipositor sheath protruding only slightly; hypopygium with tip at 0.3X gaster length.
Male. Closely resembles female but with antennal scape broader, 3.3X as long as broad, with a shiny boss extending over most of its anterior edge. Gaster obovate, 1.4X as long as broad, about as long as mesosoma, without ventral plica.
Material
Holotype: ♀, Spain, Madrid, Rivas Vaciamadrid, ex gall of Neaylax υersicolor Nieves-Aldrey on Fumaria sp. collected 25 May 2002, emerged March 2003 (J. L. Nieves-Aldrey). Deposited in Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (Madrid) (MNCN). Allotype: „, data as holotype except emergence date January 2003. Deposited in MNCN. Paratypes: 1♀ data as holotype; 4 „ data as allotype. Deposited in The Natural History Museum (London), MNCN and Askew collection.
Additional material. 1♀, same data as holotype, prepared for scanning electron microscopy ; 1♀, same data as holotype except emerged February 2003, preserved in alcohol ; 1♀ found dead inside gall, still enclosed in pupal case.
Final instar larυa
The last instar larva ( Figure 2D View Figure 2 ) is hymenopteriform ( Clausen 1940), with clear segmentation and no appendages. The integument is colourless and the shape fusiform, broader in the middle and ventrally curved. The integument is smooth with very few short setae concentrated in the head region and dorsally on the body segments. It measures 1.5–1.8 mm in length and 0.8 mm in breadth. Thirteen body segments follow the head which is trefoil-shaped in anterior view ( Figure 2E View Figure 2 ), 1.3X as broad as high, with the large dorsal part, the vertex, clearly divided into two lateral parts. A short seta is visible dorsally on each lateral part of the vertex, and the two are separated by a distance slightly more than the distance between the antennae. The two antennal setae are short, each situated slightly above, and mesad to, an antenna. The antennae are small but conspicuous, separated by a distance about 1.6X as long as the distance between an antenna and the lateral margin of the head. The two genal setae are very short.
The clypeus ( Figure 2F View Figure 2 ) is indistinct, its ventral margin straight, and it bears medially a pair of short clypeal setae; a pair of supraclypeal setae is also visible. The labrum is short and rectangular, straight at its ventral margin and laterally with a pair of papillae; a pair of very inconspicuous setae is visible on its anterior margin. The maxillae are indistinct. The labium is concave without visible setae or palps. The mandibles ( Figure 3A, B View Figure 3 ) are simple and small, each with a single, acute tooth; only the bases of the mandibles are visible underneath the labrum.
Biology
Fully grown larvae of R. fumariae were found solitarily in galls of N. υersicolor where they had fed upon the gall wasp larvae, but it is not known whether they had developed as ecto- or as endoparasitoids. Dates of adult emergence, which are for material retained indoors, indicate a univoltine life-cycle with an early spring (March/April) flight period, which would coincide with the time when N. υersicolor galls are growing. The larvae appear to develop rapidly and are probably almost or quite fully grown by the time that the galled fruits drop to the ground. It is on the ground that the longest part of the life-cycle is passed.
The sex ratio of R. fumariae , from our limited data, seems to be even, with emergence of adult males clearly preceding that of females.
Comment
The problems encountered in assigning Riυasia fumariae to Ormocerinae have been discussed above. Its inclusion in that subfamily requires a broadening of the definition of Ormocerinae in order to accommodate the combination of antennal formula 11163, campaniform pronotum, metallic colour and relatively short marginal vein. These characters define R. fumariae in Miscogasterinae and Ormocerini sensu Graham (1969).
Among European genera of Ormocerinae , there are a few points of similarity between Riυasia and Ormocerus Walker , most particularly in that both are parasitoids in cynipid galls. Ormocerus attacks Cynipini on Quercus . Morphologically, however, there are many differences between the two genera, amongst which the more significant are the two anelli, short pronotum and deep scrobes in Ormocerus . The taxonomic position of Riυasia within Ormocerinae as currently known appears isolated.
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