Synergus pedroi, Pujade-Villar, Lobato-Vila, and Fernandez-Garzon, 2017

Lobato-Vila, Irene, Caicedo, Guadalupe, Rodríguez, Pedro A. & Pujade-Villar, Juli, 2020, The inquiline oak gall wasp (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) fauna from Colombia: new data and species, The Canadian Entomologist 152 (2), pp. 131-144 : 139-140

SynerguS pedroi Pujade-Villar, Lobato-Vila, and Fernández-Garzón, 2017

Figures 17–24 .

Synergus pedroi Pujade-Villar, Lobato-Vila, and Fernández-Garzón in Lobato-Vila et al. (2017: 106–113). Type material: IAVH (holotype), paratypes in IAVH, ICAT, and UB (examined by I.L. - V. and J.P. - V. in Lobato-Vila et al. (2017)).

Material examined. 11♂ and 6♀. New additional material from Colombia deposited in UB with the following collecting data: Via Arauco-La Palma (Arcabuco, Boyacá), 5°44 0 17 00 N, 73°24 0 52 00 W, 2578 m, Q. humboldtii , caught in flight, gall collected 8.iv.2019, emerged iv.2019, J. Pujade-Villar: 1♀; Monserrate (Bogotá Distrito Capital, Cundinamarca) (near Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas), 4°36 0 38.422 00 N, 74°3 0 55.548 00 W, 2650 m, ex. Zapatella petiolata , Q. humboldtii , gall collected 17.iv.2019, emerged iv.2019, J. Pujade-Villar: 5♂ and 2♀; same collecting data as the previous one, but found on catkins of Q. humboldtii : 1♂; same collecting data as the previous one, but caught in flight: 1♂ and 1♀; Colombia, Boyacá, Santuario de Flora y Fauna Iguaque, El Níspero, 5°38 0 N, 73°31 0 W, 2730 m, 12.xii.2001 – 19.i.2002, Malaise, P. Reina, M.3066, Instituto Humboldt, Colombia, IAvH-E-147458: 1♀; same collecting data as the previous one, but collected 19.i–3.ii.2002, M.3067, IAvH-E-147460/ IAvH-E-147461/IAvH-E-147462/IAvH-E-147464: 3♂ and 1♀; same collecting data as the previous one, but collected 3–18.ii.2002, M.3068, IAvH-E-147457: 1♂.

Diagnosis. Synergus pedroi is characterised by having antennae with 14 flagellomeres in females and 15 flagellomeres in males; flagellomere 1 about as long as flagellomere 2 in females, about 1.5 in males ( Fig. 19 ); face from round to subtrapezoid-shaped and with genae not expanded behind compound eyes; frons and vertex coriaceous with some punctures; frontal carinae narrow, somewhat branched and not reaching lateral ocelli; mesoscutum with weak discontinuous transversal elements not forming true carinae; notauli complete and shallow, interrupted by carinae; scutellum from weakly carinate to wrinkled; scutellar foveae subtriangular to oval, shallow, weakly sculptured and separated by a narrow carina; circumscutellar carina weak but visible; mesopleurae regularly and densely striate; metasoma dorsodistally incised and with a small posterodorsal patch of micropunctures sometimes somewhat laterally extended, following segments more punctate; radial cell open or partially closed, long, about 3.5 times as long as wide in females, somewhat longer in males; tarsal claws with a strong basal tooth; body mainly black and yellow or reddish yellow ( Figs. 17–18 ).

Synergus pedroi is morphologically similar to Synergus gabrieli Nieves-Aldrey and Medianero, 2011 from Panama ( Nieves-Aldrey and Medianero 2011) and Synergus grahami Lobato-Vila and Pujade-Villar, 2019 from Mexico (Lobato-Vila et al. 2019), but it clearly differs from this species by having the radial cell open or partially closed (ambiguously closed in these two species). Also, from S. gabrieli by having the metasoma incised (not incised in S. gabrieli ), the face from round to subtrapezoid-shaped and the malar space 0.4 times as long as height of compound eye (face trapezoid-shaped and malar space 0.6 in S. gabrieli ); and from S. grahami , mainly by having flagellomere 1 and flagellomere 2 subequal in females, and flagellomere 1 about 1.5 times as long as flagellomere 2 in males (flagellomere 1 about 1.5 times as long as flagellomere 2 in both females and males of S. grahami ); lower face and metacoxae, yellow (lower face and metacoxae usually with a dark spot in S. grahami ); and radial cell about 3.5 times as long as wide (about 3.2 in S. grahami ), among others.

Natural history. Synergus pedroi was described from specimens that emerged from galls initiated by different species within Zapatella genus on Q. humboldtii : Z. inflata , Z. nievesaldreyi ,

and an undescribed species of Zapatella (Lobato-Vila et al. 2017) . The additional material presented here was obtained both from galls of Zapatella petiolata Pujade-Villar and Caicedo, 2017 (which corresponds to the undescribed species mentioned by Lobato-Vila et al. (2017)) on Q. humboldtii and Malaise traps. A few specimens were caught on flight or found over catkins of Q. humboldtii .

Distribution. Colombia. Boyacá, Cundinamarca and Santander departments, above 1900 m (Lobato-Vila et al. 2017; and in this work, see the additional material).

Remarks. Synergus pedroi and Synergus mexicanus Gillette, 1896 are the only two species of Synergus from the New World known to have the radial cell of the forewings open (Lobato-Vila et al. 2017). However, some of the new specimens of S. pedroi found have the radial cell partially closed, with the radial vein (R1) being very narrow and weakly pigmented in the first 2/3 of its length and disappearing in the last 1/3. This variation has also been observed among specimens composing the type series ( Figs. 20–21 ); so, S. pedroi is characterised by having the radial cell open or partially closed, in addition to what it is said in the original description (Lobato-Vila et al. 2017).

A few new specimens obtained from galls of Z. petiolata found at La Florida Park (Cundinamarca) (1♂ and 3♀) are considered here as S. pedroi ; however, they show some morphological variations that lead us to think they could belong to a different near-related species: the radial cell of the forewings seems to have the last third of R1 vanished (in a way similar to Fig. 21 ) or very weakly pigmented, thus being very difficult to decide if it is partially or ambiguously closed ( Fig. 22 ); and the metasoma of females appears not incised from the lateral view ( Fig. 23 ) and from slightly to not incised from the dorsal view ( Fig. 24 ), instead of clearly dorsodistally incised. Since we have obtained very few specimens of this morphology, we assign them to S. pedroi until new material is collected.

Figures

Figs. 17–19. Synergus pedroi (paratypes deposited in UB). 17, Female habitus; 18, male habitus; 19, first male flagellomeres.

Figs. 20–21. Radial cell variability of Synergus pedroi. 20, Radial cell open; 21, radial cell partially closed.

Figs. 22–24. Morphological variations within Synergus pedroi (specimens from La Florida). 22, Radial cell; 23, metasoma lateral view; 24, metasoma dorsal view.