The unknown followers: Discovery of a new species of Sycobia Walker (Hymenoptera: Epichrysomallinae) associated with Ficus benjamina L. (Moraceae) in the Neotropical region

Author(s)

Antoniolli Farache, Fernando Henrique ^[1] ; Pereira, Cecilia Bernardo ^[2] ; Koschnitzke, Cristiana ^[2] ; Barros, Levi Oliveira ^[1] ; de Castro Souza, Elmecelli Moraes ^[1] ; Felicio, Daniel Tirapeli ^[3] ; Gatti, Fabian ^[4] ; Cardona, William ^[5] ; Rasplus, Jean-Yves ^[6] ; Santinelo Pereira, Rodrigo Augusto ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] FFCLRP USR, Dept Biol, BR-14040901 Ribeirao Preto, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Fed Rio de Janeiro, Museu Nacl, Dept Bot, BR-20940040 Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Brazil

^[3] UNESP, Fac Ciencias, Dept Ciencias Biol, BR-17033360 Bauru, SP - Brazil

^[4] DRNEA Adm & Parques Nacionais, Ctr Pesquisa Ecol Subtrop, Av Victoria Aguirre 66, Pto Iguazu, Misiones - Atgentina

^[5] Univ Valle, Dept Biol, Calle 13 100-00, Cali - Colombia

^[6] INRA, CBGP, UMR 1062, Montferrier Sur Lez - France

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: JOURNAL OF HYMENOPTERA RESEARCH; v. 67, p. 85-102, DEC 31 2018.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

Biotic invasion in mutualistic communities is of particular interest due to the possible establishment of new relationships with native species. Ficus species are widely cultivated as ornamental plants, and they host specific communities of chalcid wasps that are strictly associated with the fig inflorescences. Some introduced fig species are capable of establishing new relationships with the local fig wasps, and fig wasp species may also be concomitantly introduced with their host plants. Ficus benjamina L. is widely cultivated across the world, but the associated fig wasps are not reported outside of the species native range. We describe for the first time a non-pollinating fig wasp associated with E benjamina inflorescences outside its native distribution. Sycobia hodites Farache \& Rasplus, sp. n. is the third known species of the genus and was recorded in populations of E benjamina introduced in the Neotropical region throughout several localities in Argentina, Brazil and Colombia. Sycobia is a gall-inducing non-pollinating fig wasp genus associated with fig trees in the Oriental and Australasian regions. This species competes with pollinators for oviposition sites and may hinder the future establishment of the native pollinator of E benjamina, Eupristina koningsbergeri Grandi, 1916 in the New World. However, the occurrence of a gall inducing species in this host plant may open ecological opportunities for the establishment of species belonging to other trophic levels such as cleptoparasite and parasitoid wasps. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 15/25417-7 - Diversity and evolution of host-species relationship of wasps associated with neotropical fig trees
• Grantee: Rodrigo Augusto Santinelo Pereira
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 15/06430-2 - Taxonomy, molecular phylogenetics, and evolution of host specialization in two genera of Neotropical fig wasps (Pegoscapus Cameron, 1906 and Idarnes Walker, 1843; Hymenoptera, Agaonidae).
• Grantee: Fernando Henrique Antoniolli Farache
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 17/00647-5 - Next-generation sequencing applied to the study of systematics and diversification of neotropical fig wasps (Hymenoptera: Agaonidae)
• Grantee: Fernando Henrique Antoniolli Farache
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor