NORTH-WESTERN JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY 7 (2): 286-290 ©NwjZ, Oradea, Romania, 2011
Article No.: 111135 www.herp-or.uv.ro/nwjz
A new species of Andricus Hartig oak gallwasp from Iran
(Hymenoptera: Cynipidae, Cynipini)
George MELIKA
1,
*, Majid TAVAKOLI
2
and Graham N. STONE
3
1. Pest Diagnostic Department, Plant Protection and Soil Conservation Directorate of County Vas,
9762 Tanakajd, Ambrozy setany 2, Hungary
2. Lorestan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center, Khorramabad, Lorestan, P.O.Box: 348, Iran.
3. Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, King’s Buildings, West Mains Road,
Edinburgh EH9 3JT, Scotland, U.K.
*Corresponding author, G. Melika; E-mail: melikageorge@gmail.com
Received: 26. April 2011 / Accepted: 27. August 2011 / Available online: 18. September 2011
Abstract. A new species of oak gallwasp, Andricus rosieae (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini) is described
from Iran. This species is known only from asexual females and induce galls on the acorns of Quercus
infectoria. Data on the diagnosis, distribution and biology of the new species are given.
Keywords: Cynipini, Andricus, taxonomy, Iran, distribution, new species.
Introduction
Only 36 species of oak gallwasps (Hymenoptera,
Cynipidae, Cynipini) were recorded in the first
work on cynipid fauna of Iran (Chodjai 1980).
Since then, a number of works have been pub-
lished on the oak gallwasp fauna of Iran with de-
scriptions of new species (Melika & Stone 2001,
Melika et al. 2004, Azizkhani et al. 2006, Tavakoli
et al. 2008, Pénzes et al. 2009). In the recent mono-
graph on cynipid fauna of Iran, 77 species of oak
gallwasps were listed (Sadeghi et al. 2010).
Iran lies at the eastern limit of the Western
Palaearctic, and recent surveys confirm that its
cynipid fauna includes widespread Western
Palaearctic species such as Andricus kollari (Hartig)
and Cynips quercusfolii (Linnaeus); species limited
to the eastern part of this region such as the insana
form of Andricus quercustozae (Bosc), Andricus
megalucidus Melika, Stone, Sadeghi & Pujade-
Villar and Aphelonyx persica Melika, Stone, Sadeghi
& Pujade-Villar (Melika et al. 2004); and taxa cur-
rently unknown from Turkey that may represent
Iranian endemics, including Andricus stonei Me-
lika, Tavakoli & Sadeghi, Dryocosmus tavakolii Me-
lika, Stone & Azizkhani and Dryocosmus mikoi Me-
lika, Tavakoli, Stone & Azizkhani (Azizkhani et al.
2006) and 14 other recently described species (Ta-
vakoli et al. 2008).
Here we describe another endemic from Iran,
Andricus rosieae n. sp., known to induce galls on
acorns of Quercus infectoria Olivier (Fagaceae).
Materials and Methods
We follow the current terminology of morphological
structures (Liljeblad & Ronquist 1998, Melika 2006). Ab-
breviations for fore wing venation follow Ronquist &
Nordlander (1989), and cuticular surface terminology fol-
lows that of Harris (1979). Measurements and abbrevia-
tions used here include: F1–F12: 1st and subsequent flag-
ellomeres; POL: post-ocellar distance, the distance be-
tween the inner margins of the posterior ocelli; OOL: ocel-
lar-ocular distance, the distance from the outer edge of a
posterior ocellus to the inner margin of the compound
eye; and LOL: the distance between lateral and frontal
ocelli. The width of the forewing radial cell is measured
from the margin of the wing to the Rs vein.
Images of wasp anatomy were produced with a digi-
tal Nikon Coolpix 4500 camera attached to a Leica DMLB
compound microscope, followed by processing using
CombineZP (Alan Hadley) and Adobe Photoshop 6.0.
Gall images were taken by M. Tavakoli.
Results
Andricus rosieae Melika & Stone n. sp. (Figs 1–3)
Type material: HOLOTYPE female: IRAN,
Lorestan, Ghelaei, ex. Q. infectoria, Lor385, coll. M.
Tavakoli, Autumn 2006. PARATYPES: 1 female
with the same label as the holotype. The holotype
and paratype females are deposited at the Pest
Diagnostic Department, Plant Protection and Soil
Conservation Directorate of County Vas,
Tanakajd, Hungary (curator G. Melika).
Description. ASEXUAL female (holotype)
(Figs 1.a-e – 2.a-d). Head rusty brown, posteriorly
black, with interocellar area, antennal sockets,
mandibles and stripe along attachment line of
mandibles black or dark brown. Antenna dark
brown with black; scape, pedicel, F1–F6 with
darker base and lighter proximal 1/3rd; F7–F13
very dark brown to black. Pronotum, mesopleu-