Exploring insect biodiversity: the parasitic Hymenoptera, chiefly Chalcidoidea, associated with seeds of asphodels (Xanthorrhoeaceae), with the description of nine new species belonging to Eurytomidae and Torymidae

Abstract

An account is given of the communities of Chalcidoidea, mostly based upon species of Bruchophagus Ashmead (Eurytomidae), which feed as larvae in seeds of Asphodelus and Asphodeline (Xanthorrhoeaceae). Eight new species of Eurytomidae, namely B. abscedus Askew sp. n., B. asphodelinae Askew & Stojanova sp. n., B. gijswijti Askew & Ribes sp. n., B. insulare Delvare sp. n., B. lecomtei Delvare sp. n., B. ribesi Askew sp. n., Eurytoma genale Askew & Stojanova sp. n., and Aximopsis balajasi Delvare sp. n., are described together with the new species Idiomacromerus asphodeli Ribes sp. n. (Torymidae). Eurytoma setigera Mayr, 1878 is again synonymized with E. pistaciae Rondani, 1877 syn. rev. Puklina dillerae Doğanlar, 1993 and P. asphodelinae Boyadzhiev, 2003 are synonymized with P. depilata Graham, 1987 syn n. The use, respectively of the mitochondrial genes COI and Cyt B and of the nuclear gene EF1-α, allowed us to discriminate pairs of sibling species in the three genera of Eurytomidae and to circumscribe the limits of the hypervariable Eurytoma asphodeli Hedqvist, 1976. The trophic webs associated with five species/subspecies of asphodels are fully described and illustrated, the distributions of the chalcid wasps involved are figured, and the phenology of the most common species is quoted and figured.