Review of Gonatocerus (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) in the Neotropical region, with description of eleven new species
Author
Triapitsyn, Serguei V.
Author
Huber, John T.
Author
Logarzo, Guillermo A.
Author
Berezovskiy, Vladimir V.
Author
Aquino, Daniel A.
text
Zootaxa
2010
2010-05-14
2456
1
243
journal article
32054
10.5281/zenodo.894928
77799ae7-9459-43e9-af68-c88aa98852a5
1175-5326
894928
Genus
Gonatocerus
Nees
ab
Esenbeck, 1834
Gonatocerus
Nees
ab
Esenbeck 1834
: 192
–193. Type species:
Gonatocerus longicornis
Nees
ab Esenbeck, by monotypy. Subsequent taxonomic references:
Girault 1911
: 273
–277 (North American species);
Kryger 1934
: 503
–505 (nomenclatural remarks); De Santis 1967: 102–103 (catalog);
Bouček & Graham 1972
: 125
–130 (genus and type species identity);
De Santis 1979
: 364
(catalog);
Sahad & Hirashima 1984
: 7
–11 (Japanese species);
Schauff 1984
: 36
–37 (genus definition);
Matthews 1986
: 214
, 216 (species groups and British species);
Huber 1986
: 220
–222 (historical review, host records, etc.);
Huber 1988
: 5
–7, 23–24, 29–30 (species groups and Nearctic species of two groups);
Noyes & Valentine 1989
: 34
–35 (diagnosis and remarks on New Zealand species);
Yoshimoto 1990
: 36
–42 (species groups and list of Western Hemisphere species);
Zeya & Hayat 1995
: 52
–59 (species groups and Indian species);
Huber & Beardsley 2000
: 51
–53 (species in Hawaiian Islands);
Baquero & Jordana 2003
: 3
–5 (diagnosis, key to species groups and species in Navarre, Spain);
Donev 2005
: 376
–377 (key to species groups in the Balkan Peninsula); Triapitsyn 2006a: 4–6 (key to Nearctic egg parasitoids of
Proconiini
);
Lin
et al.
2007
: 34
–37 (short diagnosis, list of Australian species);
Luft Albarracin
et al.
2009
: 8
–10 (list of species, distribution, references, and host associations in Argentina), 13 (key), 16 (illustration).
Lymaenon
Walker 1846
: 49
–50. Type species:
Lymaenon acuminatus
Walker
, by subsequent designation by
Gahan & Fagan 1923
: 82
. Synonymized under
Gonatocerus
by
Foerster 1856
: 118
and
Bouček & Graham 1972
: 127
; treated as a subgenus of
Gonatocerus
by
Herting 1972
: 14
, and as a valid genus by
Kryger 1934
: 503
,
Debauche 1948
: 78
– 113 (species groups and Belgian species),
Debauche 1949
: 25
–59 (species groups and African species),
Kryger 1950
: 68
–71 (historical review), and
Annecke & Doutt 1961
: 4
(key), 13 (diagnosis, distribution, subgenera).
Rachistus
Foerster 1847
: 203
. Type species:
Ooctonus litoralis
Haliday
, by subsequent designation by
Gahan & Fagan 1923
: 128
. Synonymized under
Gonatocerus
by
Foerster 1856
: 119
and
Bouček & Graham 1972
: 127
, and under
Lymaenon
by
Debauche 1949
: 25
.
Rhachistus
Dalla Torre 1898
: 429
. Unjustified emendation of
Rachistus
Foerster.
Cosmocomoidea
Howard 1908
: 68
. Type species:
Cosmocomoidea morrilli
Howard
, by monotypy. Treated as a synonym of
Ooctonus
Haliday
by
Girault 1929
: 20
, as a subgenus under
Lymaenon
by
Ogloblin 1959b
: 50
–56 and
Annecke & Doutt 1961
: 4
, and synonymized under
Gonatocerus
by
Bouček & Graham 1972
: 127
.
Oophilus
Enock 1909
: 458
. Type species:
Oophilus longicauda
Enock
, by monotypy. Synonymized under
Gonatocerus
by
Girault 1911
: 276
–277 and
Bouček & Graham 1972
: 127
, and under
Lymaenon
by
Debauche 1949
: 25
. Treated as separate genus by
Kryger 1950
: 79
–81.
Agonatocerus
Girault 1913a
: 276
. Type species:
Agonatocerus humboldti
Girault
, by original designation. Synonymized under
Gonatocerus
by
Girault 1915a
: 156
and
Bouček & Graham 1972
: 127
, and under
Lymaenon
by
Debauche 1949
: 25
.
Gonatoceroides
Girault 1913b
: 255
(as subgenus of
Gonatocerus
). Type species:
Gonatocerus
(
Gonatoceroides
)
australicus
Girault
[as
australica
], by original designation. Synonymized under
Gonatocerus
by
Girault 1915a
: 156
and
Bouček & Graham 1972
: 127
, and under
Lymaenon
by
Debauche 1949
: 25
.
Gastrogonatocerus
Ogloblin 1935
: 65
(as subgenus of
Gonatocerus
). Type species:
Gonatocerus
(
Gastrogonatocerus
)
membraciphagus
Ogloblin
, by original designation. Treated as a subgenus of
Lymaenon
by
Ogloblin 1938a
: 93
–106 (in part) and
Annecke & Doutt 1961
: 4
, and synonymized under
Lymaenon
by
Debauche 1949
: 25
and under
Gonatocerus
by
Bouček & Graham 1972
: 127
.
Gahanopsis
Ogloblin 1946
: 286
, 288 (as subgenus of
Lymaenon
). Type species:
Lymaenon
(
Gahanopsis
)
deficiens
Ogloblin
, by original designation.
Syn. n.
Decarthrius
Debauche 1949
: 21
–22. Type species:
Decarthrius straeleni
Debauche
, by original designation. Synonymy under
Gahanopsis
by
Annecke & Doutt 1961
: 13
.
Syn. n.
Diagnosis.
The following combination of features will separate all
Gonatocerus
from similar looking genera (those with 8 or 7 funicle segments in females). Both sexes: forewing relatively wide, with posterior margin convex; marginal vein with two macrochaetae and the hypochaeta about midway between them; tarsi 5-segmented. Female: antenna with 8 or, rarely, 7 funicle segments; gastral segment 1 similar in length to segment 2. Male: antenna with 11 flagellomeres; genitalia not encapsulated in a tubular capsule or phallobase; instead, aedeagus attached directly to the apical sternum, with two long apodemes united distally (V-shaped) and a long median apodeme.
Classification.
Gonatocerus
is a relatively easily recognized genus, so any generic key to the
Mymaridae
may be used for its recognition in the Neotropical region:
Annecke & Doutt (1961)
for the world genera,
Yoshimoto (1990)
for the New World genera, and
Luft Albarracin
et al.
(2009)
for the genera in Argentina.
The place of
Gonatocerus
within the higher classification of
Mymaridae
and its relationships with other genera were first discussed by
Schauff (1984)
, who hypothesized
Gonatocerus
+
Ooctonus
Haliday
were the most basal clade of
Mymaridae
next to the
Alaptus
group and other genera with 5-segmented tarsi.
Viggiani (1989)
classified
Gonatocerus
(as
Lymaenon
Walker
) in the tribe Lymaenonini Ghesquière of the subfamily Lymaenoninae based solely on external male genitalic characters.
Huber (2002)
placed
Gonatocerus
+
Gahanopsis
Ogloblin
as part of an unresolved trichotomy with other mymarids lacking a postmarginal vein.
Lin
et al.
(2007)
then placed
Gonatocerus
in a separate
Gonatocerus
group of genera, and we concur with that preliminary placement. Until all the mymarid genera are thoroughly revised it would be premature to here indicate the proper placement of
Gonatocerus
within
Mymaridae
.
Distribution.
Cosmopolitan.
Hosts.
In the Neotropical region, reliable host records of
Gonatocerus
spp. are from eggs of
Aetalionidae
,
Cicadellidae
, and
Membracidae
(
Hemiptera
: Membracoidea). These and most extralimital records were listed by
Huber (1986)
; however, many non-membracoid records need confirmation.
Species groups within
Gonatocerus
.
The large number of species within the genus and their considerable diversity led earlier workers to subdivide
Gonatocerus
into subgenera or species groups, as summarized in Table 1. Several of the species groups were either not defined or, when defined, were discovered by subsequent workers to contain a mixture of species that should properly have been placed in a different species group or more than one other species group. Conversely, two or more groups sometimes turned out to contain species better placed in one and the same group. In addition, the names of some of the groups were changed by subsequent workers. The subgenera recognized by
Ogloblin (1935
,
1946
,
1959b
) were either not used by other workers, except
Annecke & Doutt (1961)
, or were subsumed under particular species groups. Confusion at the species group/subgenus level thus existed for several decades.
Matthews (1986)
resolved some of the problems, and proposed using three groups for the European fauna: the
ater
,
litoralis
, and
sulphuripes
groups.
Huber (1988)
proposed three more species groups, the
membraciphagus
,
deficiens
, and
straeleni
groups. The latter two groups were proposed for the two species in
Gahanopsis
Ogloblin
without formally synonymizing
Gahanopsis
under
Gonatocerus
.
Yoshimoto (1990)
and
Zeya & Hayat (1995)
subsequently proposed the
masneri
species group and the
asulcifrons
species group, respectively.
In the revised classification we propose, several of the species groups are given subgeneric status, which better reflects the morphological diversity within
Gonatocerus
. Within the large and diverse subgenus,
G.
(
Cosmocomoidea
), we also recognize and define or redefine several species groups, which were partly treated by
Huber (1988)
as subgroups within the
ater
species group.