The genus Gasteruption Latreille, 1796 (Hymenoptera: Gasteruptiidae) in the Czech Republic and Slovakia: distribution, checklist, ecology, and conservation status
Author
Bogusch, Petr
text
Zootaxa
2021
2021-02-24
4935
1
1
63
journal article
7438
10.11646/zootaxa.4935.1.1
5ec55ddd-306e-45a9-9925-296caf2c9bf6
1175-5326
4559034
29188279-3AC9-493D-9146-7A8F89F8991A
Gasteruption boreale
(Thomson, 1883)
Figs. 13–22
.
For synonymy see
Johansson & van Achterberg (2016)
.
Diagnosis:
A smaller species, the body length of females (without ovipositor)
8–11 mm
, ovipositor length
1.6–2.8 mm
. Total length of males
8–10 mm
. Head is not elongated, with short gena and occipital carina narrow and developed only laterally. Head and mesonotum finely sculptured. Ovipositor is short, with ovipositor sheath 0.9–1.5× as long as the third tibia, with a black or dark brown apex. This species was recently resurrected from the synonymy with
G. assectator
by
Johansson & van Achterberg (2016)
. The main differences from
G. assectator
and
G. nigritarse
are in finer sculpture especially on the mesonotum, narrow hypostomal bridge and the female’s ovipositor sheath has only short and irregular bristles (
Johansson & van Achterberg 2016
).
Distribution:
(
Fig. 22
): Probably widespread in Europe from south to the north but in older studies it is not distinguished from
G. assectator
. Recorded from the following countries:
Austria
,
Bulgaria
,
Czech Republic
,
Finland
,
Germany
,
Hungary
,
Netherlands
,
Norway
,
Russia
,
Serbia
,
Slovakia
,
Slovenia
,
Sweden
,
Turkey
and
Ukraine
(
Johansson & van Achterberg 2016
,
Özbek 2020
, and personal records),
Orlovskyté
et al.
(2018)
bring records from
Lithuania
.
FIGURES 13–21.
Gasteruption boreale
(Thomson, 1883)
. 13—female, lateral habitus, 14—male, lateral habitus, 15—female, lateral head, 16—female, frontal head, 17—female, dorsal head, 18—female, lateral mesosoma, 19—female, dorsal mesosoma, 20—female, third leg, 21—female, ovipositor apex. Scale bars represent 1 mm.
Previously was not distinguished from
G. assectator
.
It is
new for the
Czech Republic
(both
Bohemia
and
Moravia
) and also from
Slovakia
.
This species is rarer than
G. assectator
. It was recorded in 48 localities in the Czech Republic and
15 in
Slovakia, mostly in warmer regions of both countries (although recently it was collected near Orlické hory and Novohradské hory mountains in altitudes around
600–700 m
n.m.). Recently, it is rarer than before the year 1990, there are 31 old and 17 recent localities of this species known from the Czech Republic and six recent and nine old from Slovakia (
Tab. 2
).
Biology:
Recorded from May to September. Host spectrum is probably a part of the species recorded as host of
G. assectator
(
Parslow
et al.
2020b
)
.
Orlovskyté
et al.
(2018)
recorded
Hylaeus communis
(Colletidae)
as a host of
G. boreale
.
Like most species of this genus,
G. assectator
frequently visits flowers of multiple species of families
Apiaceae
and
Asteraceae
(personal records).
Conservation:
G. boreale
is the rarest from the three species of
G. assectator
s. l.
and probably occurs mainly in warmer regions. Since the biology is not well-known, it is hard to state what the main reasons are for the loss of records in recent years. Red List Category: VU—vulnerable (
Tab. 2
).