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

By

Farache, Fernando
Pereira, Cecília Bernardo
Koschnitzke, Cristiana
Barros, Levi Oliveira
Souza, Elmecelli Moraes de Castro
Felício, Daniel Tirapeli
Gatti, Fabián
Cardona, William
Rasplus, Jean-Yves
Pereira, Rodrigo Augusto Santinelo

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2018

Original Publication

Journal of Hymenoptera research

Volume

67

Pages

85-102

Subjects

biocontrol , Chalcidoidea , Dispersal , invasive species , parasitoid

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Washington, D.C International Society of Hymenopterists

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.67.29733

 

Abstract

Biotic invasion in mutualistic communities is of particular interest due to the possible establishment of new relationships with native species.Ficusspecies 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.FicusbenjaminaL. 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 withF.benjaminainflorescences outside its native distribution.SycobiahoditesFarache & Rasplus,sp. n.is the third known species of the genus and was recorded in populations ofF.benjaminaintroduced in the Neotropical region throughout several localities in Argentina, Brazil and Colombia.Sycobiais 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 ofF.benjamina,EupristinakoningsbergeriGrandi, 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.