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Quadrastichus ingens Prinsloo & Kelly (Erythrina Gall Wasp)

(Life: Kingdom: Metazoa (animals); Phylum: Arthropoda; Class: Hexapoda; Order: Hymenoptera; Superfamily: Chalcidoidea; Family: Eulophidae; Subfamily: Tetrastichinae; Genus: Quadrastichus)

Quadrastichus ingens Prinsloo & Kelly, 2009. Holotype: in Biosystematics Division, ARC-Plant Protection Research Institute, Pretoria. Type locality: Pietermaritzburg (South Africa).


Female

Quadrastichus_ingens_SAM-HYM-P048095_habitus_lateral Quadrastichus_ingens_SAM-HYM-P048095_head_meso_dorsal
Quadrastichus_ingens_SAM-HYM-P048095_head_anterior Quadrastichus_ingens_SAM-HYM-P048095_labels
Photographs © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of South Africa).

Male

Quadrastichus_ingens_SAM-HYM-P048095_habitus_male_lateral  

Photograph © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of South Africa).


Figures: 3, forewing, female; 4, mesosoma, female; 5, head, frontal view, female; 6, antenna, male; 7, antenna, female; 8, ovipositor and middle tibia, same scale, female; 9, male genitalia © Gerhard Prinsloo & Janine Kelly (ARC).

Distribution

Afrotropical region: South Africa.

Quadrastichus leaf galls on Erythrina latissima. Photograph © Gerhard Prinsloo & Janine Kelly (ARC).

Quadrastichus leaf galls on Erythrina lysistemon. Photograph © Stefan Neser (ARC).

Biology

Gall former on the leaves, petioles and twigs of the Coral tree Erythrina latissima (Fabaceae). Three described species of Aprostocetus and 3 other described species of Quadrastichus are associated with Erythrina galls (Prinsloo & Kelly 2009). In addition a species of Eurytoma erythrinae is believed to be a parasitoid of the eulophid gall inducers (Gates & Delvare 2008).Aprostocetus exertus and Eurytoma erythrinae have the potential to act as biocontrol agents of the Erythina Gall Wasp  Quadrastichus erythrinae, which is rapidly spreading around the world (La Salle et al. 2009). 

References

Gates, M. & Delvare, G. 2008. A new species of Eurytoma (Hymenoptera: Eurytomidae) attacking Quadrastichus spp. (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) galling Erythrina spp. (Fabaceae), with a summary of African Eurytoma biology and species checklist. Zootaxa 175: 1–24.

Kim, I.-K., Delvare, G. & La Salle, J. 2004. A new species of Quadrastichus (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae): a gall inducing pest on Erythrina spp. (Fabaceae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 13: 243–249.

La Salle, J., Ramadan, M. & Kumashiro, B.R. 2009. A new parasitoid of the Erythrina Gall Wasp, Quadrastichus erythrinae Kim (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae). Zootaxa 2083: 19–26.

Prinsloo, G. L. & Kelly, J.A. 2009. The tetrastichine wasps (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Eulophidae) associated with galls on Erythrina species (Fabaceae) in South Africa, with the description of five new species. Zootaxa 2083: 27–45.

Credits

Photographs and map illustration © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of South Africa).

Illustrations © Gerhard Prinsloo & Janine Kelly (ARC).


Web author Simon van Noort (Iziko South African Museum)

 

Citation: van Noort, S. 2024. WaspWeb: Hymenoptera of the World. URL: www.waspweb.org (accessed on <day/month/year>).

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