Eight new species of Cycloneuroterus Melika & Tang gallwasps from Taiwan and mainland China (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini)

Abstract

Eight new species of cynipid gallwasps, Cycloneuroterus abei Melika & Tang, C. ergei Tang & Melika, C. gilvus Melika & Tang, C. globosus Melika & Tang, C. jianwui Tang & Melika, C. lohsei Melika & Tang, C. tumiclavus Tang & Melika, C. uraianus Tang & Melika, from Taiwan and mainland China are described. Descriptions, diagnoses, biology, and host associations for the new species and a key to all Cycloneuroterus species are given. All taxa are supported by morphological and molecular data. Seven newly described species induce galls on Quercus subgenus Cyclobalanopsis, while one, C. uraianus, induces galls on Castanopsis. This is the first Cycloneuroterus species known to associate with Castanopsis.

The ecological and evolutionary importance of nectar‐secreting galls

“…Further sampling focusing on known oak plant‐hosts, particularly in regions that are either under‐explored (e.g., China), or that have species‐rich oak forests (e.g., neotropics), will likely reveal a much greater occurrence of these structures than currently known (Nixon , Tang et al. ). The extent to which they occur on non‐oak hosts is also unknown and may be a rewarding avenue for field studies.…”

Primera cita del género <em>Neuroterus Hartig</em> (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae, Cynipini) para América Central, con descripción de tres especies nuevas de Panamá y Costa Rica

“…The vast majority of Cynipini species described have been from the Holarctic region, but more recently, rich faunas of cynipids are being discovered from the Oriental and the Neotropical regions, historically poorly sampled with regard to cynipids (Liljeblad et al, 2008;Nieves-Aldrey et al, 2009;Stone et al, 2009;Melika et al, 2010;Medianero & Nieves-Aldrey, 2011;Tang et al, 2016). In the Neotropical region, an increasing sampling effort in countries such as Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia has yielded rich Cynipini fauna, for the most part undescribed.…”

“…As a consequence, and based on host Quercus associations, some authors have noted that the classification should split some lineages or groups of species closely related to Neuroterus into the separate genera Pseudoneuroterus Kinsey and Cerroneuroterus Melika & Pujade-Villar. More recently, a new genus closely related to Neuroterus, Cycloneuroterus Melika & Tang, was described for a group of Oriental species associated with the ancestral FagaceaeQuercus subgenus Cyclobalanopsis, Lithocarpus and Castanopsis-in Taiwan and mainland China (Tang et al, 2011(Tang et al, , 2016.…”

New Dryocosmus Giraud species associated with Cyclobalanopsis and non-Quercus host plants from the Eastern Palaearctic (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae, Cynipini)

“…occur almost entirely in Asia and Malesia (one species in the western North America), and the 8 species of Castanea Miller are distributed in the Northern Hemisphere (Govaerts and Frodin 1998). Associations between East Asian representatives of these Fagaceae genera and Cynipini have been revealed only very recently (Tang et al 2011a andTang et al 2016a (Abe et al 2014a, b, Ide et al 2010, Melika et al 2011, Tang et al 2011a, b, Zhu et al 2015. Ide and Abe (2015) described a new cynipine species, Dryocosmus kunugiphagus, from a section Cerris oak, Quercus acutissima Carruth, as the first Dryocosmus species developing on section Cerris oaks in the Eastern Palearctic.…”