Josephiella microcarpae Beardsley & Rasplus, 2001

Pérez-Gómez, Álvaro, Sánchez-García, Íñigo, Royo, José Manuel, Rasplus, Jean-Yves & Robla, Jairo, 2025, Unveiling an intricate relationship: Ficus trees, their associated wasps (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea) and another story of invasion in the Iberian Peninsula and Europe, Journal of Hymenoptera Research 98, pp. 667-687 : 667-687

Josephiella microcarpae Beardsley & Rasplus, 2001

Material studied.

Spain: • Alicante: San Vicente del Raspeig: Vicente Savall Pascual Street : 4 ♀ ex., J. M. Royo leg. and AC deposit., 02-II-2021, 193 m a. s. l, found in dissecting leaf galls of Ficus microcarpa (38.389033, -0.518130) . • Cádiz: Algeciras: Barriada El Cobre : 8 ♀ + 1 ♂ ex., I. Sánchez and Á. Pérez leg and AC deposit. 15-VIII-2019, 84 m a. s. l, found in dissecting leaf galls of F. microcarpa (36.118236, -5.479646). See Fig. 1 H .

Ecological remarks.

Leaf galler of Ficus microcarpa .

Distribution.

The exact origin of the wasp is unknown but could be Southeast Asia as its host plant originates from there. The species was first reported in Hawaii, California ( USA) and the Canary Islands ( Spain) ( Beardsley and Rasplus 2001; Rodríguez and Rodríguez 2006). Subsequently it was recorded from several European areas like Sicily ( Italy), Balearic Islands ( Spain), Malta, Portugal, Greece, and Cyprus ( Lo Verde et al. 2007; Caldwell 2008; Rasplus et al. 2010; Mifsud et al. 2012; Wang et al. 2015 a; Kalaentzis et al. 2023). The species was recently reported in the Spanish peninsular area, namely Valencia ( Rodrigo et al. 2017), Alicante ( Hernández Martínez and Marcos García 2019) and Catalonia ( Riba-Flinch and Pujade-Villar 2022).

Short description.

The female has a body uniformly dark brown except antennal and legs pale yellow, wings hyaline. Head reticulate in dorsal occipital area behind ocelli. Pronotum reticulate without carinae, mesoscutum smooth centrally, scutellum smooth with weak, longitudinally oriented reticulation. Hind coxae reticulate. Gaster smooth and shiny ( Beardsley and Rasplus 2001). This species is recognized also by the spherical swellings or warty blisters that develop on the lower and upper surfaces of the leaves of Ficus microcarpae .

Figures

Figure 1. Wasps cited in this work A female of Eupristina aff. verticillata Waterston, 1921 B Walkerella microcarpae Bouček, 1993 C female and D male of Pleistodontes imperialis Saunders, 1883 E female and F males of Philotrypesis okinavensis Ishii, 1934 G Eufroggattisca okinavensis (Ishii, 1934) H Josephiella microcarpae Beardsley & Rasplus, 2001.